The Sad Story of a Lonely Little Boy
by What2callmyself
Summary: What does growing up in the harsh Makai mean? How does friendship affect you? When someone forgotten from the past comes back to lay claim to one of their own how will the Reikai Tantei respond? Ending is now up please see note inside. R & R
1. What Happened in the Past

Woot!! It's the fourth of July!! Since I'm soooooo patriotic, I decided to post this fic about a Japanese anime! (sarcasticness) Aren't I ironic?  
  
OKAY!! WARNING!!

1) This fic will probably have slight character bashing in the more humorous parts (it's for laughs people, don't develop an ulcer over it –I have nothing against those characters!!)

2)This fic will definitely have some OOCness, I usually like to keep the characters with their personalities but this is gonna be one of my less serious ones, unless it just develops the other way.

3) If I owned Yu Yu Hakusho it wouldn't be the great anime/manga it is today and no one would want to read it!!

4) Surjo is my character as well as the idea for this fic (which I'm sure no one would want to steal credit for in the first place!)

5) May have mild cursing, I just don't think I can keep my mouth in control for this one!  
  
......okay! I think that's it!!  
  
Prologue: A Hint of What It's Like  
  
A long time ago in the realm of the Makai lived many demons. Most of the demons there were blood thirsty and viscous in nature. Because of this the Makai was not a safe place for anyone. In order to survive there you had to be strong and endure many hardships, most often, utterly alone. The demons killed whoever were in their way, ransacked homes and had their way with anyone and anything. There you never were allowed to show weakness, there were no emotions besides pain, anger, hatred, rage, and contempt. You never cared the slightest bit about the people you traveled with or stayed with, whether it was your family or your companions. You're only priority was yourself, everything and everyone else was expendable.  
During these raids and ransacking of villages, the place would be demolished and left devoid of any life. Every once in a while there will be a survivor, who would have to make it on their own, not that it was much different than the normal way of things, but sometimes the survivor would be a child; one barely able to take care of itself. An instance such as this is why our story takes place.  
  
Chapter One: What Happened in the Past  
  
It was dark, and cold, and there was pain. He could barely move in the spot where he was trapped. He knew of what had happened and he was afraid. Would they find him? Or did they think that he was already dead? Were they still there? Or had they left? He had no idea of what was going on or how much time had passed. He had woken up a short while ago, trapped beneath a pile of rubble trying to make heads or tails of the situation on the other side. But he did remember what had happened...  
There was screaming and shouts. Surjo ran out of the small hut that belonged to his family. There were strangers in the village! They were causing trouble, but the villagers could not stop them. They destroyed everything, killing everyone that crossed their path. Suddenly he felt an arm wrap around him, lifting him up. Surjo was about to scream in fright when he felt another hand on his mouth; forcing the outburst to remain caught in his throat.  
"Ssshhh" a voice said. Surjo turned his head slightly to see that it was his father. "We have to leave before they find us. Just keep quiet and stay hidden." Surjo nodded and his father let go of his mouth.  
They bolted to the outskirts of the village where they confronted some of the bandits. His father let go of him and pushed into the shadows before anyone could see. He whispered softly, "Whatever happens, get away from here and don't look back. You are to live a long life where you'll find someone and take care of each other. I want you to be happy." With that a bandit snuck up on Surjo's father from behind and sliced through him with a scythe. Surjo watched as his father fell to the ground. He resisted the urge to cry out to him when he remembered that he was told to 'keep quiet and stay hidden.' Surjo was helpless as he watched what became of his village. Then, without warning, the building that he was using as cover collapsed on top of him. The last thing he saw was black.

He knew he had to move. He had to find some way to get out and live like his father wanted him too. He just couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, frustrated, sad, and angry. Why did those bandits have to attack his rather peaceful village? Well they did, there was nothing he could do to change that. There was nothing he could have done to help them. Surjo tried moving it hurt so much he knew he had to be seriously injured. But still he tried and eventually managed to wriggle out beneath the pile of debris. After he was able to stand he did the only thing his young mind could comprehend at a time like this. He ran. He ran and ran and didn't stop running. He just pushed on farther and farther away from the life that he knew the life he could never could go back to. He ran for three whole days before collapsing on the ground beside a stream. He sat there in the lush undergrowth and cried his eyes out. Too tired, too hurt, too numb to do anything else. He just sat there and cried. After hours of this, young Surjo fell into sleep that consisted of nightmares of his father's words and bandit wielding scythes.

The next time Surjo found himself conscious he continued to cry. Not the silent cry he did the night before, but the loud mourning he now had the strength to do. He wept his little heart out and kept on it. He didn't even stop when he heard the bushes rustle. He didn't even acknowledge the noise and continued on with his business. A minute later he heard a young voice ask softly, innocently, "Why are you crying?"

Surjo whipped around and came face to face with a young kitsune kit. He studied the little fox as tears still trekked down his face. The kit was small and very young, appearing the human age of four, with long silver hair and tail and cute little fox ears perched on his head. (Just thinking about Inuyasha there for a sec, how Kawaii!! -yeah, I know Inuyasha isn't a fox, but still, kawaii) The kit also had wide golden eyes that glowed.

The little boy continued to talk to Surjo during his inspection, "Are you sad? Why are you sad?" Surjo could just stare at the young kitsune in disbelief. Where did he come from? And...why did he care?

While Surjo sat there gaping at the kit, the kit inspected Surjo. Surjo appeared the human age of ten with black hair that reached down to his shoulder blades and deep sapphire eyes that were very expressive. The little fox could see that this strange boy was hurt badly in some places, including that one of his bat-like wings looked broken. The kit said, "Can you talk? You look hurt, I can help you if you want." Surjo watched the little boy as he came over and sunk down to his knees in front of Surjo. The fox reached into his long silvery hair and took out a seed and made it grow until it became a small flowering shrub. He took some of the berries and some of the pollen, crushed it up and put it on the some leaves he had plucked. He then took the leaves and placed it over the wounds. He then took some vines that also came from the bush and tied it loosely around the leaves so they wouldn't move. This took some time, the whole while the two were silent. Surjo stopped his tears and watched the young kitsune bandage him up.

When he was done Surjo asked, "Wh-who are you?"

The young kit looked up with wide eyes and said, "My name's Youko Kurama, what's yours?"

"Surjo, my name's Surjo."

"Surjo? Why were you sad?" (Isn't this so cute? )

"I..."

"Did something bad happen?"

"Yes. Sniffle My village was destroyed, there's nobody left. I'm alone now."

"I'm sorry." And the little kit did look sad as he averted his eyes.

"What are you doing all the way out here Kurama? Where are your parents?"

"I live around here, kinda. What are parents?"

"You don't what parents are?" The little kit shook his head confusedly, silver hair swishing back and forth. "Parents are the people that take care of you, they are your family."

"Oh. I don't have one of those. I think I did once, but I don't remember it that well. Something bad happened and there were mean people. They weren't nice and were hurting some people that looked liked me only bigger until they stopped moving. Then they took some stuff and broke things. I've been here all by myself for a while. Were those people my parents?"

"It's possible..." _Could Kurama have suffered the same thing I did? But he's younger than me! How could he live on his own for this long?_

"Do you know why they stopped moving? I remember asking them to get up but they continued sleeping. Something happened and I tried finding them but I couldn't. Do you know what could have happened to them?"

The golden eyes glowed, asking for an answer. Surjo looked at the small fox with a mixture of sadness, shock, and disbelief. He didn't know what anything was, didn't even know what death was. Surjo just couldn't help but be shocked at the innocence of the little fox. _How should he answer the kit? _"Sometimes people just go to sleep, and they just don't wake up."

"They don't wake up? Why not?"

"They don't wake up, they just keeping sleeping, and they stay like that forever."

"Forever?" said the confused little fox, "What about us? What if I go to sleep tonight and never wake up? I don't want to never wake up again!"

Surjo grimaced. He was getting the poor fox upset when all the fox was doing was trying to cheer him up. "Don't worry, it won't happen to you for a really, really long time."

"Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay...Surjo? What's going to happen to you? Are you alone now too?"

"Yes, yes I am, I am alone now too." Then Surjo started to cry silently again.

"Surjo?...Surjo?" Then suddenly he found a mass of silver hair in front of his face as the young kit hugged him. Surjo was shocked. He wasn't used to this show of affection, of someone trying to comfort him. It was strange, but he liked it.

"Kurama? Wha...?"

"You're crying again. Please don't cry." Kurama said somewhere near his ear.

"I can't but help feel sad, I'm all alone now. Everyone I knew is gone..." Kurama pulled away from Surjo, then suddenly his face brightened up.

"Hey! We can be alone together!"

"Wha...?" Surjo said in shock. "Who would take care of us?"

"...We could take care of each other!"

"Take care of each other?" "Yup! You can come live with me!"

"Live with you?"

"...unless you don't want to..." Surjo saw the fox's ears droop slightly as he said this.

"You'd want me to?"

"Yeah! It'll be fun!" Kurama said as his ears perked up again, "We can have fun, and play all day, and be friends!"

"Friends?"

"Yup!!" Surjo continued to stare at the kit. This act of kindness was unheard of in the Makai. He then remembered that his father said he'd meet someone and that they'd take care of each other, and that he could be happy. He thought about it, and it made sense. The little youko didn't want to be alone, and he didn't want to be alone, they'd take care of each other.

"Ok, Kurama."

"Really?! You would?! Yay!"

"So we're friends?"

"Yup! We can be the bestest of friends!!" Surjo couldn't help but smile at the little fox's enthusiastic happy face. Suddenly he yawned, being very tired." "Surjo are you tired?"

"mm-hmm"

"Can you walk? I can take you back to my den..." Kurama helped Surjo get up and lead him back to the den so that he could recover.  
  
YAY!! Well here it is peeps! I didn't want to post it today because there was so much more I wanted to add to this but it seemed like a good place to stop and I had the urge to post so here it is!! Tell me what you think!! All beings capable of typing a review please DO SO!! REVIEW!! Don't make me beg!! (puppy dog face) REVIEW FOR THE SAKE OF CHIBI YOUKO KURAMA!!!! (HE'S TOO CUTE TO BE DENIED!!)  
  
All flames are gladly accepted as I can use them to set off my fireworks!! BOOM!


	2. Long Forgotten Memories

July 17th, 2004  
  
A/N: Ohayo minna-san! I was am away on vacation while I wrote this up...and have to suffer without my beloved, spiteful computer for more than a week! ANYWAY!! Just so you know, the first three, maybe four, chapters are filler/information chapters. That way you know a little about my OC and what he's doing there in the first place.  
  
I had a strange thought while I was re-reading chapter one...do you remember the part where Kurama asks why Surjo is crying? It reminded me of Peter Pan when Wendy asks Peter why he was crying and he said because his shadow was missing. Please don't ask. .  
I apologize for the way this is written. This is one of my less serious stories (at least right now) and I know the writing for this will probably suck, **but the idea is there!  
  
**Now, responses to my wonderful reviewers!!  
  
Suiyou: Thank you! The idea for this fic just randomly hit me in the head with a sledgehammer, I hope it continues to be an original idea to you. (After all, how many people could there be that have the same deluded mind as me?) Oh! Yes! Gomen about the grammar! Every time I upload and edit the fic, it still leaves commas and bold and other important stuff out. I do try to fix it but I'm afraid there's not much I can do with my computer challengedness. Please bear with my incompetence. (Curse you spell check! You don't even know what a semi-color is used for! -.-'')  
  
Titangirl161: Well, here's the next chapter. I'm pretty sure you know all of what's going to happen, but maybe I snuck something else in there. Besides, WHY DO I ALWAYS TELL YOU MY STORY?! Well, nothing I can do about it mow. .  
  
Okay Minna-san, if you want updates faster, review. That way I won't leave you guys (and gals) waiting. If you don't, I'll just update when I feel good and ready –and with my laziness, it won't be anytime soon!  
Well Minna-san, ENJOY CHAPTER TWO!!  
  
Ch. 2 Long Forgotten Memories  
  
Surjo had awakened in the middle of the night. He immediately tensed up and tried to peer through the darkness. Light from the moon cascaded in small spots unto the floor, leaving just enough illumination to try peering through all the black.  
He scanned what he could see of the small room, then sat up to obtain a better view. Using his hands to brace his still weak form, his left hand came upon something warm next to him. Instantly looking down he saw the small figure and mass of silvery hair that belonged to Kurama. _Oh, right.  
_Surjo continued to watch the kit as he slept. Every once in a while, one of Kurama's little fox ears would twitch. Surjo wondered how the kitsune was able to be so kind to those he didn't even know. He pondered this for a time and promised himself that he would never let anything happen to his new friend.  
When the sun began to creep across the horizon, Surjo realized how tired he still was. He settled back down in the bed and was unconscious in under a minute.  
(the stars signify a time lapse!)  
Later that day, Surjo awoke to the feeling of someone taking off his bandages. Surjo opened his eyes and saw Kurama finish removing the wrappings. The kit then moved to lick at some of the wounds on one of Surjo's arms. However, Surjo moved his arm away.  
"Nng. Wh-What are you do-doing Kura...?"  
"Some of your wounds opened up again. They need to be treated, just lay still."  
"By licking them?"  
The fox nodded, "It helps prevent infection and it gets the blood o clot." _(Hey, for those of you that don't know, this is true. For all those who are going 'eww' right now, it is the natural instinct of foxes and dogs to clean wounds with their tongues; it's something that they can't help. I know this is for a fact. When I was younger, if my brother, my sister, or me got hurt, my dog would always try to lick it to clean it out. Now that I grossed you all out, let's get back to the story, ne?)  
_ "Aren't you the little medic," Surjo half-joked, "But using water, or that thing you did before is more hygienic."  
"Hygen...wha?" asked the confused little fox.  
"Hygienic, meaning sanitary. Or cleaner," he added the last because of the still confused face he was getting. The last comment did the trick though. There was a lot he could teach Kurama, and Kurama was unknowingly teaching him.  
"Oh. Okay. I'll grow some more berries." Kurama brought out another seed from his hair and treated Surjo's wounds like he did last time. When he was done, the kit turned to Surjo. "How are you feeling Surjo? Can I get you anything?"  
Surjo shook his head in the negative.  
"Okay, then get some rest, you need it."  
Surjo nodded and closed his eyes, "Mmm, g'night K'rama."  
"It's the afternoon silly," Kurama snickered.  
"Nnn. Whatever." This earned another snicker from Kurama.  
  
A couple weeks later Surjo was back in one piece (for a while now) thanks due to Kurama. Recently they had been going out into the forest surrounding the den and playing games.  
"What game do you want to play today Surjo?" Kurama asked.  
"What about the Hiding Game?"  
"Ok! You hide first! What do I count to?"  
"Count to 50," Surjo answered.  
"Okay!!" Kurama then closed his eyes and started to count. Surjo taught Kurama how to count past 20, and he remembered them all, mostly. "1, 2, 3, 4...22, 23, 24...36, 37, uh, 30-uh, 37, 39...44...uh...49, 50! Surjo! You can't hide from me!"  
With that Kurama found Surjo in less than 5 minutes. "Kurama! Did you ask the plants again?!" Surjo asked, half-exclaiming and half-teasing.  
"No! You just have to hide those big wings of yours!" Kurama teased back.  
"Alright, it's your turn! You hide!"  
"'Kay! Bet you won't find me!"  
"We'll just have to wait and see!" Kurama stuck out his tongue playfully before dashing off.  
Surjo counted to 50 and then began to search for the little fox. He had been looking for Kurama for 15 minutes already and there was no sign of the sneaky kit. That is, until Surjo heard Kurama's screams. He quickly ran to where his friend was in trouble.  
When Surjo arrived he saw three tall bandits, one of which had picked Kurama up by the base of the tail, while the distressed fox was trying to swat them away.  
"Lemme down! Don't touch me!"  
"What is it boss?" one of the three asked stupidly.  
"It's a kitsune, a silver one. Thought to be extinct." He replied after bringing the struggling kit closer to his face for inspection. _(Don't take my word for it. I've heard a bunch of things. For example, 1: silver kitsune are rare and 2: Kurama was the last one. If I am wrong and you would like to correct me, I'd appreciate it.)  
_"This one will get us quite the price, yes?" asked the third.  
"Yes. And it's so young. This is our lucky day boys!"  
"I. Said. Let. Me. Go!" Kurama screeched.  
"Shut up you insolent brat!" and then the leader backhanded Kurama hard across the face with his free hand.  
This action resulted in a large, ugly bruise already forming on the kit's face. The little fox also had tears welling up in his eyes. At the sight of his friend about to cry, Surjo saw red.  
"Leave my friend alone, jerk!"  
The four turned their heads in his direction. "Surjo!" Kurama screamed and tried to free himself with renewed effort.  
"Another brat," the third one said.  
"Just a common bat. Not worth much," the leader assessed.  
"Should we bother with it?" the stupid one asked.  
"As you wish, I've got what I want." Tweedle Dee (#3) and Tweedle Dum (#2_) [Let's just say they don't deserve the time it takes to come by with a proper name. That, and I'm not in the mood to be nice right now. ] _cracked their knuckles and smirked menacingly as they advanced on Surjo. _{If you haven't figured it out yet, the baddies are slave drivers. I'm so cruel...}  
_Surjo ignored the peanut gallery and screamed again. "I. Said. Leave my friend alone; [insert vulgar word here.]  
The boss only sneered. He waved the still wriggling Kurama around like a rag doll and taunted, "Is this what you want? Well, it's mine now!" He then hit Kurama again just to see Surjo burn with anger.  
"Stop it!" he screeched.  
"You don't like that? This kid is now my property, I can do anything I want to it whether you like it or not!"  
"[Same vulgar word], Kurama's not your property!" Surjo said, now trembling from his rage.  
"Surjo, look out!" Kurama whimpered.  
Surjo looked around and saw that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum had snuck up from behind while he had been yelling at their boss. He didn't really know what to do to help Kurama or himself. What was going to happen to them?  
  
A/N: DUN DUN DUN! A cliffy! I **_AM_** in an evil mood right now aren't I? Well, it just seemed like a good place to leave off. It was 11 pages when I wrote it. I'M SO MEAN!! O.O (Huggles chibi Youko Kurama almost to death) **Not that I'm threatening or anything but reviews will help chibi Youko stay away from evil bad men who want to sell him!You know, the house I'm renting for vacation is literally on/over the water of the lake. The house is from the 1800's and the beams keeping the house from going IN the water likes to shift. That happened yesterday while we were eating dinner. You hear a loud THUMP and the whole house jolts downwards. Hmm...the next update might be from the bottom of the lake. Well Minna-san, PLEASE REVIEW!! I would appreciate it greatly if there was feedback. Did you like it? Did you utterly despise it? Are the A/N too long? Should I keep my little comments to myself? ****_All it requires is 10 seconds of your time. I mean the 'Go' button is all but dancing naked in front of you waving a big sign saying "CLICK ON ME!"  
_**If you won't review for those reasons, please send a prayer in a review that my vacation house won'' fall in the water. I very much doubt I could live down there very long... -.-''  
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS STORY SO FAR! 


	3. Long Forgotten Memories Part Two

July 31st, 2004  
  
A/N: Hey Minna-san! Guess who's back! I have good news! I didn't have to become a resident of the bottom of a lake! –Though it gave a good fight! First the house threatens to fall in the water, then it almost burns down (we, uh, had a 'small' fire while trying to cook dinner one night .), and then when we were renting a boat to go tubing and water skiing in, and it threatened to dump me overboard! –But I'm back and in one piece! Woot!  
  
Review Responses: I LOVE YOU GUYS!!  
  
CrimsomRegret Pours In My Soul: Yea! I'm glad you like this!! You think the A/N are funny?! I love you!! Glomp I am amusing to someone!! Yea!! I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
  
Titangirl161: Yes, you do know most of the story. But I FELT like putting a cliffy so there!!! Mwuhahaha!! And I may even put more- but then I'll feel bad...Why would I be annoyed that you reviewed?!?! I like it when you review! I like you! (like to torment...oh did I write that? ) Well, you asked for more, how's this?  
  
Much thanks go to you two! I hope I get two reviews per chapter like I have been getting....OH! For anyone that is remotely interested! Also while on vacation, I tried drawing a picture of Surjo and chibi Youko Kurama. If you want a copy so you can criticize it, leave your e-mail address, or just tell me you want a copy, and I'll send you one!  
  
Well...here's chapter three!  
  
CHAPTER THREE: LONG FORGOTTEN MEMORIES PART TWO  
  
Before Surjo could decide on a course of action, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum advanced. Surjo was tackled to the ground and pinned before he even realized it. Surjo shut his eyes tightly and with all the frustration, it felt like something would explode.  
A second later Surjo felt no weight on him, so he opened his eyes and scrambled to his feet. The two goons had been mysteriously thrown off of him.  
"[vulgar word] {well, I'm not typing it, it's not my fault if you say dirty words. O.O}, you're going to regret that!"  
They closed in on Surjo again when all of a sudden Surjo felt something in his hands. He took a glance and noticed a scythe in each hand. _Where did those come from? I don't even know how to use a scythe! _(1)  
The two were a little leery about charging a kid with two sharp and pointy objects but when they saw an opening, they attacked.  
Surjo was surprised when his body moved of it's own accord. Without even knowing what he was doing, he slashed Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The two collapsed to the floor and stayed still.  
It was now the boss' turn to be pissed. You could hear utter hate and loathing dripping from his voice when he spoke, "You're going to wish you never existed [you know the drill]" He then flung Kurama away from him, who collided painfully with a tree, and got into a fightig stance. After a brief pause he then launched himself at Surjo, who still believed he had to be possessed in order to be doing what he was. Surjo dodged the assault and countered it with his scythe. The leader rushed again at Surjo, but when Surjo dodged like last time; the leader pulled out three throwing stars and sliced across the chest and stomach. Surjo screamed out in pain.  
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. On every blasé there is special poison, poison that is going to kill you in the next 15 minutes. During that time, I'm gonna enjoy making you miserable!"  
Surjo groaned at his ill fated luck and covered his stomach with his arm. Now how was he going to be beat this freak? And...WAIT A SECOND (I actually thought 'hold on a tick' but that's from Austin Powers...)...POISON?!...15 MINUTES?!...not good. He had to end this quick and hope the poison thing was a bluff- but he already knew it wasn't.  
  
{I'm so sorry everyone, I really can't write fight scenes. In fact, I can't write at all, but I'm still trying with this. Why do I bother? -.-}  
  
The bandit leader drew out three more stars with his other hand. He flung the first three at Surjo, who managed to dodge just in time, and landed in the dirt. He readied his other hand for another attack. He stood poised and ready to throw at the right moment.  
Meanwhile, Surjo was already starting to feel the effects of the poison. His vision was blurring, his breathing continued to become shallower, and his muscles were slowly seizing up –they were beginning to refuse to yield to Surjo's commands.  
"Ah," said the content thug, "feeling your life slipping away from you? It won't be long now. Then I can take that brat over there to be sold as a pet. Or maybe I'll just keep him for other purposes...decisions, decisions. Don't like it, punk? Well, it's not going to matter in a few minutes anyway." He then sneered at Surjo upon completion of his rambling.  
Without warning the other three stars were flung towards him. Very narrowly they missed and plunged deeply into the trunk of a near-by tree. Not meeting the desired result, Boss got even angrier. Having no more stars left, he then charged at the boy.  
Surjo didn't have enough time to move, and his muscles were refusing profusely at any form of movement. He tried to prepare himself for the impact and block, but the blow never came. When he opened his eyes –that he didn't even realize that he had closed – the boss was on the ground with a vine wrapped around his ankles.  
Kurama lay at the base of the tree he collided against with his hand stretched out in their direction. He was using what energy he had left to control the small vine. His eyes slid in and out of focus and he was panting heavily. "L-l-leave h-him a-a-alone." He said weakly.  
"Why you!!" the boss spit out venemously. He spotted one of his stars laying in front of him. He went to throw it at Kurama but before he could reach for it, he found two scythes in his back. He stopped moving.  
Surjo took a staggering breath and then called, "Kurama? You okay?"  
"I-I'll be fine. What about you Surjo?...Surjo?"  
The poison was taking it's toll. He could no longer stand, and fell to the ground. "Surjo! Surjo what'd wrong!?" Kurama screamed as he managed to pick himself off the ground and rush to Surjo's side.  
"Poi...poi...poi," Surjo tried to tell Kurama, but his throat wouldn't work past the 1st syllable.  
Kurama took in the symptoms and recognized it as Soorsack Poison. "Surjo! You've been poisoned. Just continue to take deep breaths!" He then pulled a seed out of his long, silvery hair and put some ki into it to make it grow. He broke off branches of the bush and let the sap drip into the wounds from the stars. They began to bubble and hiss.  
Surjo grounded in pain and his breathing turned dangerously shallow again.  
"Surjo I'm sorry, but it's got to be done. Keep taking deep breaths."  
After the sap had been administered, Kurama then took some leaves and applied them over the wounds to keep out infection. After Surjo's wounds had been tended to, he plucked some berries from the shrub (for the pain) and told Surjo to eat them.  
Surjo managed to get the berries down, then lay still with his eyes closed trying to get some of his strength back. When he opened his eyes, after his rest, he felt much better. It had been a close shave, but thanks to Kurama's abilities, he would be fine. Speaking of Kurama, where did he go?  
Surjo found kurama tending to the wounds of the bandits. He picked himself off the ground and walked over.  
"What are you doing?" he asked.  
"They're wounded. They can't do anything to tend to them while they're sleeping."  
"I'm not so sure they're going to wake up. Besides, they tried to kill us!!"  
"But they're still hurt and need help. Does it matter what they did? And why wouldn't they wake up?" he asked confusedly.  
Surjo stood there bewildered at the little fox. He didn't care what a person tried to do, but if they needed help, he would tend to them. This was unheard if in the Makai. Much of what the kit did was not normal. But Kurama was his friend, he would have to make sure he didn't get help from helping others. And the other question...how could he explain to the kit that he probably killed the bandits when the kit didn't even know what death was.  
He actually never wanted Kurama to know what death was, never have the blood on his hands like Surjo did now. (dramatic much? :P) Kurama was innocent, he was different. He didn't deserve to end up just like everybody else.  
He took a breath and answered, "It could be their time to sleep forever."  
Kurama stared at him with wise and horrified eyes. "But we made them sleep! If they never wake up, it's our fault!"  
Surjo watched as the tears ran down his friend's face. He had winced rather hard when Kurama said "we," Kurama didn't do anything besides help. He hugged his friend and said,  
"Aw, Kurama don't cry. It's probably not as bad as it looks. I'm sure they'll be fine, it wasn't your fault."  
(remember, these '' mean time lapses! I don't think I'll remember to say that next time!)  
After Kurama finished fixing up the bandit leader, he tried to stand up but collapsed immediately. Surjo instantly became worried.  
"Kurama! What's the matter?!"  
Surjo rushed over to Kurama and looked him over. He was a real mess. The kit was one big mass of bruises; big, ugly, and discolored bruises. The little fox also had used much of his energy to heal everyone, even the tree. Surjo scooped up the little fox into his arms. "Don't worry Kurama. We'll get you back to the den and have you cleaned up, okay?"  
"K...Surjo?"  
"Hmmm?"  
"What about them?"  
"They'll be fine here. Actually, it looks like they're waking up," he half-lied. They would be fine, but would be out for a while and sore once they woke up. In his opinion, they should never rise again for what they tried to do to his friend.  
"Surjo?"  
"Hmmm?"  
"We take care of each other right?"  
"Right."  
"Does that make us family?"  
Surjo looked down at the half asleep fox and smiled. "Yes Kurama, we're family. We're brothers."  
"Brothers?" he asked tiredly.  
"Yes, brothers. Now get some rest, I'll take care of you."  
"Okay Surjo. Goodnight."  
"It's the afternoon silly."  
"Whatever."  
Surjo smiled down at the sleeping kit in his arms, his little brother.  
  
A/N: AWWW!   
  
(1)Hmm...this is probably starting to sound like Kuronue. Let me assure you that any similarities between the two are completely unintentional. –I was TRYING to be original. [hey, I haven't even seen that part of the manga/anime yet. -.-'' so deprived]

(2)If you were confused at the second to last part, refer to ch. 1

(3)Sorry, the last part was my sad attempt at a joke (ch. 2)

(4)Grr. I tried so hard on the last fourth of this chapter, but no matter how many times I rewrote it, it still didn't come out right! Sigh This might actually be a good story if I wasn't the one writing it. -.-

(5)CrimsomRegret Pours In My Soul: sorry, I wasn't up to many random A/N in this chapter. –could be that I'm sleep deprived and my nice sister and mother got me sick.  
  
X.x Wah....sleepy.

(6) I find this is very repetitive and ironic. Mwuhahaha! Behold the horrors of my badly written fic!

Please review now that you read! Any questions, comments, or concerns? Leave them in a review or e-mail me and I will get back to you!  
THANKS FOR READING! JA!


	4. Time to Say Goodbye?

Mostly written July 26th, 2004 –but typed January 14th, 2005

A/N: Hey all!! This is story is back!! I have the fourth chapter, which I had written mostly in July…ug. The last three and a half pages were written just now. It took me forever to think of something, which is why I didn't post it before. **Hits writer's block with a sledgehammer. **Anywho, I want to dedicate this chappie to my readers and my to my manager, who had let me take go somewhere during the mornings and work on my story. He was so nice! Besides, I didn't want to deal with people that early in the morning anyway. (works in an aquarium for those of you interested.)

Review Responses:

Crimson Fire Roses at Twilight: Thanks for the vote of confidence. Multi-chapter stories really aren't my forte, but I am trying to get better with them.

Titangirl161: ::n.n:: But will you want to break my face again when you read the important note? (Remember, I can take you on! You frightened gazelle!)

sakurasango: I'm glad you like the story so far. You're actually lucky that I updated. After about half a year, I kinda forgot about it… -.- I'm glad you think they are cute, I was trying to go for adorable and kawaii! I hope you continue to like the story…if it stays…

Yamiyugikun: Yeah, I'm glad that they found each other too, which is why you'll prolly hate me when you see this chapter… -.-

**_IPMORTANT NOTICE!!: As of right now, this story is seriously being considered to become discontinued and removed. There might be one more chapter after this, depending on the mood. However, depending on your feedback, I will decide whether or not to scrap the story. Please tell me how you feel about this. Thank you._**

Note: _Italics mean thoughts of the character._

Chapter Four –Time to say Goodbye?

Surjo sat outside the den looking up at the sky. It was just after twilight, so the sun had already set and the sky progressed to become steadily darker. A few stars had begun to appear and the moon would present itself soon.

He had been sitting there for some time after he had bandaged up the little fox and put him to bed. Now that the incident with the bandits had happened, there were bound to be more. Especially if he was the last of his kind, and a highly prized one at that.

Surjo would have to protect his friend, but he knew that there could be a time when he was not near enough to help Kurama. In which case, Kurama would have to learn how to take care of himself. He knew the little fox wouldn't like it, with the chance of hurting others, but Surjo had to make him see that it was for his own good. Besides, they would get better. Kurama would probably help them himself. Surjo resigned himself to training his little brother, even though he wasn't quite sure how he knew what he was doing.

While musing, Surjo had nor realized someone was sneaking up behind him. He jumped when he heard a voice say, "What are you doing?"

"Kurama! You shouldn't be out of bed! What are you doing out here?!"

"I came to look for you, you weren't inside," he answered softly.

"It could have been dangerous! I would have come in eventually!"

"I'm sorry," Kurama said in a soft, sad tone.

Surjo melted. He had become so worried for the fox's safety that he had hurt the kit's feelings. "It's okay Kurama, I didn't mean to yell at you."

"I know. I came to find you, O didn't get a chance to ask if you were all right now."

Surjo blinked, then offered a small smile. "Thanks to you, I'll be fine."

"Okay."

"Let's go back in, you need to rest," Surjo said.

Kurama replied, "So do you."

When they got back inside Kurama tried to hide his yawn. However, Surjo spotted it.

"Go to sleep. I have something to talk to you about later."

"What is it?" the kit's curiosity asked.

"In the morning," he answered shortly.

"Why?" Kurama questioned.

Surjo sighed, "Because you're tired."

"No, I'm not. Tell me," he said, while trying to stifle another yawn.

"Yes you are. You're about to drop on your face. Besides, it can wait 'til morning." Surjo said firmly.

"Okay," the small fox said dejectedly.

With that said, the two crawled into bed (hey that rhymed! ) "Goodnight Kurama," Surjo said.

He turned to see that the kit was already in dreamland. He smiled before he closed his eyes and succumbed to sleep as well.

---

"But Surjo-" Kurama started.

"No buts, Kurama," he interrupted, "it's for your own protection."

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Kurama, sometimes it happens. It wouldn't be your fault. Besides, wounds will heal-"

"NO!" Kurama yelled stubbornly.

"Kurama-"

"NO!" the kit yelled again. He got more upset by the second, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

Surjo saw what he was doing and clenched his teeth. He didn't want to push the fox, but it had to be done. He saw the kit start to tremble and drew him into a hug. Kurama was really rubbing off on him.

"You don't have to hurt anybody, Kurama," he whispered.

"I don't?" asked the fox.

"No. You could tie them up long enough for you to get away."

The kit pulled back, face full of uncertainty. "I don't want to hurt anyone," he repeated softly.

Surjo realized he nearly had Kurama, so he further encouraged, "You won't."

"I…don't know…"

"I promise." That did it.

"O-Okay."

Inside Surjo was frowning deeply. The fox trusted him so much that all he needed to do was reassure the fox and Kurama would agree to anything. Surjo hated to manipulate the fox's trust, but he needed to be protected from the harsh world he seemed oblivious to.

(For some reason I like to make him sound overly dramatic? I also like to make chibi Youko Kurama so innocent and fragile, but that's because in the story he is! ::n.n:: (snuggles chibi Youko Kurama))

"Good," he smiled, "Now we have to find you a weapon…"

"But-!"

Surjo explained, "It's just something to keep others away from you. A lot of things won't hurt anyone." _too badly_, he added in his mind.

"I still don't know about this," the kit declared.

"It's all right. I just have to think about this for a minute."

While Surjo pondered, Kurama went to tend to his plants. You could say it was sort of like an undefined garden. He started with the roses, one of his favorites.

Surjo thought and though. When he still couldn't come up with something, he glanced over at his brother. He spotted Kurama among the foliage and thought, _of course!_

"Kurama?" he called over to the fox.

"Hm?"

"You can make plants do anything, right?"

"I can't make the plants do anything unless I ask them. What do you want me to do?"

"Can you transform them into different things?"

"I can try…what form?"

"Try a long rope. You can't hurt anybody with that," _depending on how you use it. _–he mentally added againHe felt guilty manipulating the fox, but –as he constantly told himself –it was for Kurama's benefit. (Protective much? ::n.n::)

"Um…okay." Kurama plucked a rose from the bush and concentrated his ki into it. The petals fell away and a moment later there was a long, thorn-less whip like vine with a handle on the end. "Like this?" Surjo looked over the creation.

It was long, -with training that could be used to keep anyone at bay. It was thin and strong, -which assured that it wouldn't break –and it was able to give coverage on all sides with a flick of the wrist. However, it was lacking barbs. Since it was created from a rose, thorns could work. But he knew Kurama wouldn't agree to that –as it could kill- so he would let it be, for now.

"Good," he answered, "that'll work just fine for you."

"What if I accidentally hit someone with it?" the concern coming again.

Who knew there was such a thing as a pacifist in the Makai? "It might sting for a moment, but it won't hurt," _much._ This caused the little fox to frown. Surjo caught this and continued, "But with practice, there will be no accidents. Besides, you couldn't hurt anyone if you tried," he teased lightly.

"I still have doubts about this," he said worriedly.

"I know. But I'll be here to make sure nothing happens, okay?"

With reassurance the fox smiled and said, "Okay."

-So the training began.

(Ya like my crummy creation of the Rose Whip? I'm such a horrible writer. –sigh-)

---

(So in order to spare your sanity, a summary)

During the last year and a half nothing much had changed. The two continued to go out and play, and were now able to defend themselves. To Kurama's dismay, he did have to use his Rose Whip –but he never hurt anybody. Surjo used his scythes to defend both himself and Kurama. The convenient little voice in the back of his head always told him what to do –and he was grateful to it.

Surjo and Kurama would also play pranks on each other. Kurama showed Surjo that the mischievous little fox's name didn't mean "trickster" for nothing. (Don't sue me. That's what the mange said. Besides, I'm flat out broke anyway. -.-)

There were out one day with their daily routine –first training, then playing. Training was over so it was time to play. Little did they know their fun was not to last. (Ooh! Foreshadowing! C'mon, you knew something was gonna happen…well here it is!)

Since they had been playing for a while they decided to rest for a bit and then take a walk. They wandered out of the forest and soon found themselves in a small village. They took a look around, but Surjo was beginning to have a sense of foreboding.

After a short time, the people in the village heard a noise from far off. Déjà vu struck Surjo and he tensed up. It was exactly the same as right before he lost his family. "Kurama!" Surjo half yelled in fear while grabbing the kit and pulling him away from the main street.

"Surjo? Nani ga atta no?" asked the confused kitsune.

"SSH!" Surjo whispered urgently and covered the kit's mouth to cut off the beginning of a question.

Just then they saw some demons pass followed by the screams and shouts of the villagers. Surjo could feel Kurama tense and begin to quake as he still covered the kit's mouth. Surjo tried to steer the young Youko further down the alleyway but he wouldn't budge. Surjo knew that the kit would want to help, but then they would be spotted. Mind made up; he lifted Kurama into his arms and carried him down the alleyway.

"Nani ga atta no?" Kurama whispered again.

Of all the times for the fox's curiosity to arise!! "Kurama," he whispered in the kit's ear, "this is very important. You must be quiet. There are bad people here."

"But what about everybody else?"

"We'll worry about them later."

"But-!"

"SSH! Or they'll find us!"

Kurama obediently stayed quiet for the time being. Surjo turned the corner and sensed some people coming. He shoved Kurama into a dark corner and then covered them both with his bat wings. Surjo blended in with the dark, but the fox with his white clothes and silvery hair sure as heck didn't.

It seemed everything would be okay for the two when there was a scream from short distance away. Then they heard the voice of a woman pleading not to take her life. The begging was followed by a deep, cruel laugh and some taunts.

Kurama trembled in fear, why was this so familiar? He didn't know, but he had to help this person! He struggled to get away from his friend's strong hold on him but Surjo was determined to keep them hidden at all costs.

"Kurama," Surjo whispered harshly in the kit's ear, "stop struggling! We have to stay hidden! Or else they'll kill you!"

"But that person! They need our help!"

"There's nothing we can do for her! Now be quiet and sit still!"

"Gomen nasai, but I can't!" With that the kit wriggled out of his friend's grasp and went to help the woman whose screams had turned hysterical.

"Kurama!" he hissed and sprinted after the fox.

When Kurama was almost to the woman, he shouted, "Yameru!"

The bandit turned and took in the kit. He smirked and taunted, "You think you can stop me brat?"

"Leave her alone!"

"Kurama! Stop!"

"Another one, eh? I'll kill you both!"

Surjo brought out his scythes without a second thought and threw them at the bandit and then yelled at Kurama to get away from there. Kurama either didn't notice the yell because he was occupied with the woman or ignored it. He looked over the woman and began to patch her up. She was too shocked from just being about to die to do anything but sit there.

The bandit blocked the scythes and went after Surjo. Surjo dodged and flung the scythes again. Again, the attack was blocked. This the time the bandit was able to land his hands on the boy and began to throttle him.

"K-Kur-ama!" he choked out.

Kurama looked up from his work and realized Surjo's distress. He quickly turned to the woman who seemed to gain her senses back and ran for it. Kurama returned his gaze to his friend and brought out his whip. How he didn't want to use it, but it seemed he had no choice.

"Yameru!" he called a second time.

"And what do you think you will accomplish with that pitiful thing?"

Kurama flicked his whip and sent it close to the bandit's face. "Onegai! Let him go! I don't want to hurt you!"

The bandit just laughed at his remark and continued to strangle the helpless young bat demon. Surjo looked at the fox for help and Kurama knew he had to do something he was told he didn't have to. He closed his eyes and flicked his wrist again, hitting the bandit and wrapping the whip around his neck.

The bandit immediately dropped the kid and sent his hands to his neck to try to remove the whip so he could breathe. It was in vain. Kurama kept the whip around the bandit's neck until the bandit dropped his hands and began to fall. In which case, he quickly removed the plant and asked Surjo a little frightened, "Nani? Did I just…?"

Kurama sank to his knees and dropped the whip, which turned back into a rose. Surjo saw this and ran to comfort his friend. Kurama just stared in front of him at the prone figure at the ground. Surjo drew him into a hug.

"You just knocked him out Kurama, it's okay," Surjo reassured him, "He'll be fine." Kurama looked into his eyes blankly, in shock of what he had just done. "Let's go home, k?"

Kurama nodded, but then his eyes went wide as he turned to look at something behind Surjo. Surjo turned around only to see a group of six bandits around their fallen comrade. They noticed the pair and more trouble began to unfold.

Greedy eyes went to the small silver kit. Surjo bristled at what he knew they were thinking. He would not let them have his friend. But…it seemed he didn't have a say in the matter. The bandits were too much for him. Kurama remained unresponsive, so it was up to Surjo to defend the two of them. The end result wasn't pretty.

Surjo got beat up badly. When Kurama snapped out of his daze to help, he was still shocked to do any good. One of the bandits knocked him unconscious –can't injure precious goods now can we? Then they proceeded to kick Surjo around until he couldn't move. They were about to finish him off when the old building next to them began to crumble. They picked up the limp fox, flung him over their shoulder and turned to go.

"Sayonara, gaki," one of them said cruelly.

The last thing Surjo saw before he was crushed by the broken pieces of building was his little friend's unconscious form with his small arms dangling downwards, the innocent face with closed eyes, and the silver hair shimmering in the day's light. Darkness chose then to pull her veil over Surjo's conscious. But even through the blackness one thought managed to remain -_I had promised._

Japanese terms: (I had gotten a Japanese/English dictionary for Christmas and couldn't resist playing with it. ::n.n::)

_Nani go atto no? –what has happened?_

_kitsune -fox _

_Gomen nasai –I'm sorry_

_Yameru –stop/cease_

_Onegai –please it's really onegai shimasu depending on the use, kudasai means the same thing_

_Nani? –What?_

_Sayonara –(just in case you don't know this one) Goodbye_

_Gaki -brat._

_A/N: Anyway, there's the chapter. I know it's been awhile, but it is 12 pages! Can you be semi-pacified with this? Don't hurt me! (hides) But we once again come to the end of the chapter. _

_If anyone know the names of the other two Yu Yu Hakusho movies (I know of the "Poltergeist Report") and/or where I can find songs I can download by the Yu Yu gang I would be most grateful if you would tell me. Also if anyone can tell me the order of the Japanese alphabet. Arigatou (Thank you)_

**_MOST IMPORTANTLY!! PLEASE REVIEW THE CHAPPIE AS WELL AS TELL WHAT YOU WANT TO BECOME OF THIS STORY (see Important notice at the top) FEEDBACK IS IMPORTANT!! –Plus, it would make me feel happy to know what you guys think of the story. ::n.n::_**

_Please review and thank you for reading! Ja! (see you later)_


	5. Sore wa mo owatta koto da

January 18th, 2005

A/N: Okay peoples! Now we get to the plot! …Kinda. Let's see if you expect what will happen now!! (Smirk)

Review Responses:

Peeka-chan: -hyper- CHIBIS!! I likes chibis too!! ::n.n:: but unfortunately, not much chibi action in this chapter. -stares at katana and various other weapons- um…? I won't delete the story. Please don't kill me…look! Here's another chapter!!

Amychan: -mmm- I like cookies! Um…please don't hate me! I'll do my best to update…granted they'll take a while. This chapter sure as heck didn't want to write, I had to force it out, which is prolly why it's kinda bad. But I wanted to get it out to you before I went back to school!

Animeprincess1452: Yay!! I'm happy that you decided to read my fics and review them! (major-bone-crushing-almost-life-threatening GLOMP!) Yesh, yesh, good advice, but sadly it's already happened. ::u.u:: But you're right, Kurama is extremely helpful, but I was trying to go for him being innocent and helpful and not knowing anything really about danger. I gave you ideas! Awesome!! Glad I could help!! Well, I plan to continue with this as much as I can. I already know what I want to put in the next chappie. Yeah, I know what you mean; this chapter did not want to come out at all, so to me, it seems very bad. Perhaps one day I will fix it…(laughs hysterically. ::n.n::)

Important notice: **_OKAY!! Due to my fabulous reviewers stated above, this story will not be deleted. However, the story doesn't feel like writing itself so updates will not be fast. However, nice encouraging, and maybe some death threats, will help light a fire under my bum and encourage me to get the story out faster. ::n.n:: Thankies for the input._**

_Notes: (thoughts of the characters)_

_--- :signify a change in time and/or location_

**Okay! I'm warning you all now!! This chapter didn't want to come out, and I was in a weird mood when it finally decided to get moving, so it will contain a failure at dry humor, and badly written stuff. Fear not, I shall try to fix it! …er…eventually. _::n.n::_**

Chapter Five: Sore wa mo owatta koto da

(Ah, and now we have finally approached the present day.)

It was beautiful out; the quiet fall afternoon gave off a sense of tranquility and peace. Seeing the world like this was for some, a rare thing indeed, as they had to constantly risk their lives to keep it that way, and keeping all of the unsuspecting ningens none-the-wiser.

Yes, our beloved Reikai Tantei were taking full advantage of this well deserved little break. Our burly carrot-topped friend happened to be getting beat up once again by the number one punk of Sarayashiki Junior High, Yusuke Urameshi. Our favorite valedictorian of Meiou High School was currently at home helping his mother prepare dinner after getting his homework done. And let's not forget our favorite temperamental little fire demon, who was currently taking residence in a certain tree outside a certain fox's room. After he had spent the day following and cursing at the ningens he came across, he settled down in his tree and decided to take a short nap. Besides, what else can you do when you aren't allowed to kill any ningens and any formidable training partner was away at school? Not much.

It was Monday, and a brand new week had started. It seemed to be going pretty well for Kurama. He had gone to school, finished his homework, and helped his okaasan with dinner, and then spent a rather enjoyable evening relaxing. Hiei had come in through the kitsune's window when a light late evening rain came. The two friends talked, and, um…had as much as a conversation as they usually do ::n.n:: And yes, sweet snow did make it's appearance during the exchange.

When it came time for Kurama to think about some sleep after all, there is school tomorrow the two settled down and progressed to dreamland. That is, until Kurama felt a suspicious energy. It was small, a bare flicker, it lasted for a minutes before going away, feeling as if it wasn't really there in the first place.

"Hiei?" he asked his friend.

A "Hn?" was the response.

"Did you feel a small flicker or energy just now? I think it was youki."

A pause…"There's nothing there. The only two beings with youki are in this room."

"Hmmm," the kitsune said in thought, "I wonder it what it was then."

"Hn. Baka kitsune." And that ended the last verbal exchange of the night.

---

The next few days passed by in a similar fashion. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the nice fall air without worry. But every now and then there would be that insignificant little flicker of youki that would send a little bit of worry into the back of Kurama's mind. No one else had felt anything, not even a trace. They brushed it off saying that they will keep a look out for anything weird like that.

And it seemed like there was nothing to be worried about at all, until the flicker became less of a flicker and more of a flare. That's when the missing persons reports started to come in. Why were the ningens disappearing? They went to see what they could find, but there wasn't anything. It had been classified as a serial kidnapping case. All the victims had disappeared in much the same way, and they weren't from again. There was no note, no signs or anything to point the poor, baffled keisatsu in any direction.

By Friday, the case had landed. Botan had come from Reikai on her oar to deliver the news from Koenma. The four had went to the meeting with the future Reikai ruler and found out some disturbing things. As usual, Koenma had little to no helpful information. There had been fifteen known kidnappings, thirteen of the fifteen had no trace of a body, but when the soul was brought in, they knew nothing of what happened to them. The last two victims still had no idea what had occurred, but there was something different between them and their bodies. Teenagers and adults in age had the bodies of little kids. The soul did not remember anything from beyond the age of the body. They had been warned that this was highly dangerous, shouldn't be possible though the impossible is always possible isn't it?, and whatever this person was trying to accomplish, they were getting better at it. There was no clue as to what the motives behind these actions were, but the team were sent out to catch the culprit, stop them, and hopefully bring them in alive. –There was to be an interrogation following the capture.

---

That night, Kurama had a dream of piercing sapphire eyes and the rustling of wings.

---

The next time the energy flared was Saturday night. This flare was the longest and most powerful yet. The four went to the source of the youki and found it to be located in a secluded area of the park. By the time they arrived, there was someone already on the ground. They ran over and were surprised at what they saw. A little blond girl was unconscious at their feet, but she wore a mini-version of the Sarayashiki Junior High uniform. The perpetrator had struck again, but this girl was still alive, thankfully. But the question was how to change her back?

Yusuke rummaged through the girl's bag, and found out that they were in the same class. Hiei looked away as if bored, Kurama knelt down to inspect the girl, and Kuwabara looked over the fox's shoulder.

"She's unconscious, but she is unharmed." Kurama assessed, "She will be fine until we can figure out how to return her to how she was."

"That's good to know," Yusuke said idly, "Where do we take her? The temple, or the maybe the toddler's office?"

Before anyone could answer, they heard a scared whimper from the bushes. The gang turned to the sound and was confronted by two blue eyes. A trembling little boy came out from the bushes and slowly approached the group.

"Hey kid! Did you see what happened?" Kuwabara questioned.

The boy only nodded and walked a little closer, but was still rather skittish.

"Can you tell us? Who did this?" Yusuke exclaimed a little harshly, not one for patience.

The boy jumped at the outburst and started to edge away. He didn't seem to want to talk.

"Great! Now you scared him!" Kuwabara said loudly, "Way to go Urameshi!"

"Heh, as if anything can scare him more than your ugly mug," he retorted.

"Why you-!"

"Haha! C'mon, I'll just crème you into the ground! Again!"

"Yusuke! Kuwabara! Please control yourselves. This is no time for bickering." Kurama intervened. The two broke apart and became bored.

The little boy started to come closer again; he seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but there. A new approach was used.

"Why are you out here this late at night?" Kurama asked softly, "You shouldn't be out here alone."

The boy looked over to him and opened his mouth to talk. Stuttering, he managed to get out, "Lo-Look-king f-f-for s-someone."

"Who are you looking for? We can help you."

The boy shook his head. Kurama decided to get onto the more pressing matters.

"You saw what happened? Will you tell me?" Kurama asked gently.

The kid nodded again and drew closer. He stopped a few feet from the tantei and stood there trembling. He opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it.

"Hn. This is a waste of time. I could just read the baka ningen's mind and this would be done already." Hiei growled, obviously annoyed by the boy's shyness.

"There's no need for that, Hiei," Kurama said as he walked over to the boy and knelt down to be closer in height and eye level. He put a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder and asked him, "What did the person look like?"

The boy looked at him and his blue eyes showed fear. As further encouragement, Kurama reassured him that nothing was going to happen to him. Finally the boy answered, "Dark. I couldn't see him. And scary. All I could see was black."

Kurama nodded. Not much of an answer, but they were getting somewhere now, "And this man. What did you see him do?"

The boy took a deep breath and said, "H-he came up to the girl. He laughed. Said he needed to draw out "Koenma's precious detectives" and she was the bait. She screamed. Asked why. He said he needed to get someone, but only certain people knew where that someone was. Then she didn't move. And she shrunk. He laughed again and left. He just disappeared."

Kurama turned his head to the others to see what they thought about this new information. They were all (yes, all) in deep thought.

Yusuke thought about it for a second, "I wonder who he was looking for? Why are they after this person?"

The kid shook his head; "He said something. Something about catching famous foxes."

"Did they say anything else?" Kurama asked. That last bit was a little unnerving.

The boy replied in the negative.

"Foxes?" Kuwabara said, "Could that have anything to do with you?" He asked Kurama.

"I do not know."

Yusuke jumped in, "Well, there aren't too many famous foxes out there, are there?"

"No Yusuke, there are no others."

"Then what the heck would they want with you, Kurama?"

"I'm not sure. We will figure this out later. We have to get the boy home, and take the girl to Koenma's, he might be able to help her."

"She won't go back."

All heads turned to the boy.

"What did you say ningen?" Hiei demanded.

The boy stopped trembling and said in a deadly serious voice, "She won't go back. Not until I tell her to."

Realization dawned on all of them, and before anyone could move, they were all restrained invisibly by an alien force. He turned to Kurama, who was still kneeling and now had wide, questioning eyes.

"I came here looking for you, Kurama." The boy said almost sadly, "I've been looking for you for so long."

"Hey you little punk! You better let us go right now!" Yusuke yelled angrily.

The boy smirked, "Hn, if there was any chance of you getting free, you couldn't do anything to hurt me. I'm much stronger then you think. And I'm not little, I'm older then all of you." With that, the boy changed, his black hair became longer, his clothes turned black, and bat-like wings appeared. The youki they had felt was pouring off of him in waves.

The bat demon then embraced Kurama, whose eyes had gone blank and vacant. A force field of energy was erected in the shape of a dome with the two of them in the middle. The wind swirled and picked up within the dome, tossing the two's long hair almost wildly. Hmmm…this would prolly be better if you could see what I'm thinking, but since you can't, you get this cruddy discription, sorries ::u.u::

The bat whispered, "What had happened while I was away? Let's take a look." Kurama barely felt the presence of someone else within in his mind. As the memories flashed between both of their eyes, Kurama's body began to shrink. It came smaller and younger in years until there was a flash of bright, blinding white light. When the light subsided, Youko Kurama was the one kneeling on the ground. "Sooo many terrible memories, Kurama," he whispered again, "But I'm here now, and I'll make sure these bad things don't happen. They'll all just...disappear," he finished almost eerily.

The kitsune's vacant golden orbs showed no sign of recognition that he heard the bat's words. This form too, began to shrink. The years of growth began to become non-existent after a few minutes. The arms and legs were becoming smaller and less muscular. The fox's face began to morph into that of a kit, transforming to be small and innocent in appearance. The kit's vacant eyes were wide and large, those of a child's. Kurama was now smaller than the boy and looked like he was no more than four years old in ningen terms.

Just when the bat was about to finish on the last set of nasty memories, the bonds over the other three tantei were blown away. Their auras flailed in angry wisps about them as they proceeded to where their chibified teammate was still kneeling. They broke through the force field, and with that, the bat's concentration. Kurama's golden eyes came back to life from the vacant state, then slipped closed into unconsciousness. The bat supported his friend and drew him into a better position in his arms.

Yusuke glared at the young looking bat demon, "Change Kurama back kid. Before I get mad."

The boy glared just as hard back to the detective and held the kit tighter. "No," he said flat out. "After all the time I spent looking for him, you can't have him back. He's better off this way."

The auras flared again, yes they were angry, but they would refrain from doing something stupid and hurting their friend by accident. "How dare you say that?!" Kuwabara said.

"You wouldn't understand." He turned to Hiei, "You might, but I doubt it. Either way, you can't have Kurama."

"Why are you so bent on hurting Kurama?!" Yusuke fumed.

"Hurt him?" the bat looked appalled at the very thought; "I'm helping him. Everyone has hurt him enough. It never should have happened, and now, it hasn't."

Then the bat spread his wings and took flight with Kurama safely tucked away in his arms.

"Hey!!" Kuwabara yelled, "Get back here you little brat!"

Yusuke and Hiei shared a glance and nodded. Yusuke raised his finger and took careful aim.

"Are you crazy Urameshi?! What if you hit Kurama?!"

"I won't."

"You don't know that!!"

Yusuke ignored him and fired his Spirit gun. The shot was not his most powerful, but it did the job. He hit the fleeing bat in the wings. When he stumbled in the air he was forced to relax his grip on the sleeping kit and he began to slip away. He could not hold onto the fox any longer and he came free of the bat's grip.

Hiei, being the fastest, ran and was ready to catch the falling kit. Kurama landed safely in the fire demon's arms and slumbered on.

The young bat demon was furious. Although he was stronger then the three angry tantei, his wings were injured and he knew he did not outmatch Hiei in speed. He didn't want to hurt Kurama's non-remembered friends (Kurama would probably forgive him, but he didn't want to see the hurt look on his face when he found out what happened, and he alwayd managed to find out if anything happened), plus they had the kit now and where not keen on letting him go. The bat took this all into consideration. He would retrieve Kurama from them when there would be no hassle. There was no way the little fox could be changed back, and he knew that nothing would befall the kit in the short time they were separated. He knew where and how to get his little fox friend back. Right now, he needed to get away before they caught him and nurse his sensitive wings.

"Do not think that I am done yet detectives. I will let you have Kurama, for now. But you will not keep him long."

With that he flew a bit more and then seemed to vanish.

"Shimatta!!" Yusuke yelled, "He got away!"

"Hn. Well get him when he comes back." Hiei said as he approached with Kurama.

"THAT'S Kurama? B-but he doesn't look anything like he did when we saw him at the Tournament!" Kuwabara exclaimed.

"That because he's just a kit, baka." –Hiei, who else? ::n.n::

"I'm not a baka! Watch your mouth shrimp!"

"Hn." Hiei said dismissively, which just made Kuwabara even more angry, and turned to Yusuke, "Let's hurry up to the brat's office. I won't stand for having the baka in my sight longer then I have to."

"Yeah, yeah. Keep your pants on." Yusuke replied. He scooped up the girl and tossed her belongings to Kuwabara. The three then made their way to Koenma's office where there hoped that they could do something right and bring back their friend.

A/N: Um…yes, well, for a chapter that didn't want to be written, it's 12 pages like the last chapter! I know it's rushed, and the writing style is different and cruddy and kinda had dry sarcasm at least in the beginning, but I wanted to get this out to you guys! I'm going back to school on Sunday, so I was working hard before I had very little time to write anything for you guys. I'm aware there are probably mistakes, please forgive me for them, it's 5:01 in the morning, I've had little sleep in the past two weeks and I was just working like mad getting this out. Anywho!

_Translations: though most of these I think you know…_

_Katana: a type of sword. Hiei is known to carry a katana. Kuwabara's spirit weapon is not a katana, but a 'ken' which is a general world for sword and has no specific model or make._

_Sore wa mo owatta koto da –that's all past now. (the chappie title folk) Please note, that the 'o' in 'mo' has a flat line over it that does not appear in type. These flat lines appear over vowels when they are meant to be sounded out twice as long as the normal vowel without a line._

_Ningen –human_

_Reikai Tantei –name referring to the gang, it is supposed to me 'Spirit Detectives' this might be a slang name, but I am not positive._

_Sarayashiki –not sure if this is just a name but I looked it up just for fun. 'Sara' means 'dish, plate' 'Yashi' means 'palm tree' and 'Ki' means 'tree' but also, 'mood, feeling, will, mind.' –So I dunno if you get anything out of that._

_Meiou –same as with 'Sarayashiki.' 'Mei' means 'niece,' 'inscription,' and 'excellent, renowned.' 'Ou' came as 'chase, pursue, follow,' but also, 'bear responsibility, debt, carry on one's back.' ('Ou' with a flat line over the 'o' means, 'coat, cover-up, envelop' –just so you know) I can kinda see this one, as Meiou High School is a private school and is known to be one of the top high schools, it's 'renowned' you might say. Then there's the 'ou' part where you pursue higher learning and bear the responsibility to keep your grades up. (Just in case you guys were interested in knowing little side facts. ::n.n::)_

_Okaasn –mother. Please note, the first 'a' is one with the flat lines. There is no second 'a' following it, it is only in there in text to signify that the one 'a' there be drawn out for the duration of two 'a's._

_Kitsune –it was in the last chapter, but it means 'fox'_

_Youki –demon energy_

_Baka –idiot, fool. I've seen people put 'baka kitsune' and 'kistune no baka' to say 'stupid/idiot fox' but there IS a different between the two. When I figure out the specials uses of 'no' I'll clarify._

_Keisatsu --police_

_Reikai –Spirit World (Ningenkai –human/living world, and Makai –demon world.)_

_Chibi –not in my dictionary, but I can tell you that it means 'small child' or 'toddler.' Chibified is kind of a slang word._

_Shimatta –careful with this one folks. It means 'damn.' (I THINK I mentioned mild cursing in the warnings… o.O) it also means 'closed' but in this case it was definitely damn. This often gets mixed up with 'Kuso' which means two more naughty curse words._

**A/N: All righty then. I think that's it. It's now 5:43 in the morning and I'm at 14 pages. KUDOS FOR ME!! ::n.n:: I hope this chappie wasn't too bad with rushing and mistakes and what-not.**

**PLEASE REVIEW MY LOVELY READERS!! I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS STORY SO FAR!! GIVEN THE ENCOURAGEMENT, I MAY GET CHAPTER SIX OUT BY THE END OF THE WEEK (which is like two days people. I've been good to you guys recently, so review for me please!!) **_I also tried to keep everyone in character, please tell me if you think there were or not._

As a preview-ish type thing, the next chapter will contain some attempt at humor.

_Enough babbling!! I need to try to sleep! -.0 I hate being an insomniac…Ug, anyway, thank you reading this far, and as always, please review with your opinions of the story. Arigtou!! (Thank you)_

_Ug…Ohayo gozaimasu? (second 'o' in ohayo has the line peeps! –means good morning.) Oh gosh please, not yet. Z.z_


	6. Youko Kurama ni aru Reikai Tantei

January 21st, 2005

A/N: Hello one and all!! I am back and with chappie six! Who would have thought that I would actually not be lazy and write three chapters in one week? I sure as heck didn't!! :n.n:: (man, this is getting really annoying, most of the little faces and things I use for side notes get cut out, so the happy faces shall be repitive!! Mwuhahaha!!! ::u.u::) Okay!! I noticed that I usually write a lot during these 'A/N' –does anyone even read these things, or am I the only one who reads the notices? O.o

Anyway!! Review responses!! I'm so happy about the response this story has gotten!! I'm getting spoiled by the reviews!! Keep them up!! :)

Anonymous _–Heya!! I'm glad you like the story!! Fear not, this story shall not be removed!! And to answer your command to keep writing, will this work? ::n.n:: Please stop by again!!_

Animeprincess1452: Ah!! Now what would I do without you?! :n.n:: I'm happy that you are enjoying the story thus far, I hope that you continue to! Well, how's this for a quick update? I said it would be soon! And I kept my promise!! I have been nice and constructive! You want to know what Surjo's deal is? Hmm…come to think of it…so do I… u.u;;; This was a kinda dream/hallucination thing I had over a year ago that I was messing around in my head, I told it to my one friend who told me to do with the idea of posting it, and I did. But not all the parts of the story came to me in my dream, so I had to consciously make them up, which is why it takes so gosh darn long (besides having extreme laziness -.-) But don't worry! I do have SOME idea why he's acting like that…kinda…maybe…. ::n.n:: (Hmm…when I'm done with this I'll check out if you posted another chapter, hopefully I'll still be able to read by that point, it's already 3:11 a.m. o.O) I hopes you continue to read! I love getting feedback about the story!! But then, who doesn't?

Sapphire Angel: **Oh my gosh! You're back! I missed you! (massive hug) ::n.n:: -looks in your bio…- wow, you've been a busy little bee, no? Now why am I always clueless when people post stuff that I wanna read? I'll have to check out 'Deadly Compassionate' sometime, it looks rather interesting. And angsty, but I happen to be a sucker for that! Hmm…yeah he almost does sound like a villain doesn't he? But then, to the Tantei he is, I guess. You're call really, interpreting the story is the job of the reader, so it's up to you!! ::n.n:: Well, I guess the story-line would kinda depend on me, but I'll have to think of something to throw in there to keep you on your toes ne? ::n.n:: I hope you continue to read! I like your input!**

Tsuki Rose: You thinj my chibi Youko Kurama is cute? Thankies!! He's oh-so-huggable too! (huggles chibi Kurama) ::n.n:: I hope you continue reading and enjoying! This chapter has plenty of chibi cuteness!! (I hope! O.O)

Tsuki Fox (X3): _Thankies for the…-counts- Three (!) wonderful reviews!! To chapter two: You think I'm a good story-teller? –blush- thankies!! Don't worry, I could never kill Kurama!! I'd have to kill myself first! To chapter three: yesh yesh!! You did spell my name right!! ::n.n:: -blushes again- thanks for the compliments, but be careful! I may just get used to them! ::n.n:: You're hooked? –pulls on invisible line- hmm…yup! J/k Well, how's this for the next update? And no, you didn't sound pushy at all! Actually, I need people to yell at me more often to get me moving faster!! Unfortunately, the next update will probably take a while, as I'm going back to school on Sunday. Fear not! This story shall not be forgotten, and I will do my best to make sure the readers continue to enjoy it!_

A/N: Well now, it looks like I had fun with the bold, underline, and italics! ::n.n:: Now we have finally reached the chappie folks! I hope it comes right! This chappie is supposed to be at least a TAD humourous, and of course, much chibi kawaii-ness! I hope you guys get at a laugh, or at least crack a smile!! ENJOY!!

WARNING: I SAID IT BEFORE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY. BUT THERE WILL BE SOME OOC-NESS AND POSSIBLE MINOR CHARACTER BASHING. (looking back, I think it's minimal)I try to keep everyone in character, I'd appreciate your opinions on if I do this right, but I think that there will be some ooc-ness, I apologize, but, for this chapter, (and I'm also fudging a couple of details, but I think you all can manage!

Chapter Six: Youko Kurama ni aru Reikai Tantei

Wakai kitsune resurfaced to consciousness in a place that was unfamiliar to him. He immediately went on guard. He surveyed his surrounding and realized he was in some big room and was lying on some weird type of really long chair (a couch peoples.) There was what he was told as a desk, a big black chair, and a really weird looking painting of some sort that was a big oval (Koenma's monitor/t.v. screen.) He knew he was out in the open, but there was only one visible door. He did not know what was out there, or who. He dove behind the desk and hid in the space between desk and chair as he heard footsteps approaching.

The door flung open and slammed shut, giving off the impression that the entrée was not very happy. The kit unconsciously cringed at the sound, and hoped that whoever it was, they were not looking for him. No such luck.

"Come out. I know you're here," a deep voice growled out.

Kurama was a little scared at this point. He remembered what happened in the village, and the people that were after him and Surjo. And Surjo! What became of him?! Kurama had to go find him! –But first he had to find out where he was and get away from everyone.

"I'm not in the mood for baka kitsune games," the voice growled out again, closer then before.

Kurama began to shake; this person was going to find him! There was no where else to go! He accidentally knocked into the chair in an attempt to scrunch himself further into the space. The chair moved and gave away his already known position away.

A second later the chair moved back and a pair of bright red eyes was staring down at him from a person covered mostly in black with black hair. This man was twice as tall as him! (XD Haha, remember he's a chibi, even Hiei will look like a giant to him.)

"Out," he commanded again. Kurama just shrank away further; this person sounded kowai!

"_Kurama_." He said in a tone that suggested he was trying to be nicer and not scare the clearly frightened kit.

"You know my name?" the confused kit asked meekly. The man nodded. The kit took a good look at the man, and found he didn't recognize him as any of the bad people in the village. His foxy curiosity was started to come through, and he moved away from the desk slightly. "Where are the bad people?"

"Hn?"

"The bad people! We were in this village, and people started getting hurt, and there were people after us, and then they grabbed me! What happened to them?"

"Not here. Now get up, the others are waiting for you," he sounded annoyed again, he was not the Reikai's errand boy!

"Who?" The man just beckoned him to come. It seemed that he would not get any answers unless he complied, so he did.

But before they reached the door, it flung open again (impatient much? ::n.n::)

Kurama hid behind the man's dark cloak and held onto it tightly. He felt the man stiffen from the contact (gosh, I know he doesn't like to be touched, but we don't have cooties for crying out loud! Lol.) The kit heard the sound of several sets of feet enter the room.

"Hey Hiei! Where's Kurama!" a brash young man asked.

At the sound of his name again, Kurama poked his little fox head out from behind the man's cloak and surveyed the group. Before he could take in any details about the new strangers, he heard several different people speak at once. What was recognized was,

"Oh! He's so cute-!"

"What's he doing behind your cloak, Hiei-?"

"-I have to touch them!"

"-kawaii chibi!"

Kurama was surprised at the outbursts and hid his head again.

"Oh look, we scared him! Poor thing," a girl's voice said. "Please come out Kurama, we're your friends!"

Head poking out again, "Friends?" The girl nodded happily. "But who are you?"

The group introduced themselves, going from left to right (and sitting by this point folks,) was Yusuke, Keiko, Botan, Yukina, Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Koenma. Of course, we can't forget his shield, whose name was Hiei. Curiosity peaked again; he slowly walked over to Yusuke and Keiko who happened to be the closest.

Keiko drew him onto her lap and the kit inspected the two of them. Then he eyed the little bag she was holding. He snatched it up and rummaged through it. The pocketbook held many small items. Keiko was a little startled, but let the kit have his fun, besides he wouldn't give back anyway, not until he searched it. (I don't recall Keiko carry a round a purse, but, -abra kadabra- and –poof!- Kieko now has a purse. ::n.n::)

There was a small white cloth (a handkerchief) which he pulled out and stared out for a minute or so then put it on top of the girl's head. The girl looked a little confused, while the others gained a laugh. He pulled out what he didn't know was called lipstick, and twirled the two ends around, but stopped when nothing happened. Instead of pulling the two ends apart he handed it to Yusuke who just kind of didn't know what else to do with it. He then pulled out a small compact (powdery stuffs) and looked at the circular thing with his head tilted. He banged it on his knee lightly. Nothing. He bit onto it. Nothing but a "Hey!" from Keiko. Then he turned to Yusuke and asked out of no where, "Why does your hair smell funny?"

This gained laughs from the others. Yusuke almost face-faulted, but resisted. "It's hair gel, kid."

"What's this hair g-gel do?" The ever-curious kit asked and stumbled over the new word.

"It makes my hair stay in one place no matter what happens." He replied.

"Oh. Okay." Then Kurama got onto his knees and banged the compact on top of Yusuke's head. Yup, no dent, no mess, the gel did the job.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Yusuke protested.

The compact opened on the last little hit, "You're right, it stayed," the kit said in child-like amazement. Snickering was heard. Yusuke just sweat-dropped. Kurama opened the compact all the way, looked into it, and then quickly tossed it away, "Ah! Someone's staring at me!"

Keiko set the kit down on the couch and retrieved the compact. She explained that it was a mirror and it shows you what you look like. When she opened it again he looked into it and saw his own inquisitive little face. "That's what I look like?" he asked, astounded.

"Yes, it's called a reflection. Sometimes you can see your reflection in water too."

"Oh," he said, understanding.

Kurama spent a couple more minutes with Yusuke and Keiko before moving on. He then settled in-between Botan and Yukina who jumped at their chance to fawn all over him. Kuwabara sulked from the lack of attention from his precious Yukina. They played with his hair and tweaked his ears (hmmm…remind anyone of Inuyasha? Though…if I had the chance, I'd do the same…::n.n::) Kurama got into playing with Yukina's hair ribbon.

At length he went over to Kuwabara and Shizuru. His elder sister pinched him for no other reason but for him to jump up and exclaim idiotically. Kurama stared at this person. He looked up and up and up and SPLAT! He landed on his bottom. This man was twice as tall as the man that was twice as tall as him! How did people get that tall!

Shizuru diverted his attention to look into a video camera.

"Hey! Since when have you been taping!" Yusuke proclaimed.

"Not that you'd've noticed, but since we got here," she answered in her almost detached tone.

The kit looked at the strange new device and came closer to inspect it better. He touched the lens and then brought his face to it. You could see his one golden eye, then his ear as he moved his head to look at it better. The others were giggling and snickering at the unknown comical fox's antics.

After he thoroughly inspected the 'weird black thing' he moved over to where Koenma was seated. He perched himself on top of the desk and looked at the demigod's pacifier. Then he poked it.

Teenage Koenma became baby Koenma! The kit jumped back at the transformation, then, he wondered if it would happen again. So he was able to poke the squirming Koenma's pacifier again and he turned back to teenage Koenma!

"Hey! I didn't know you could do that!" Kuwabara proclaimed.

"Neither did I," the embarrassed and bewildered god-ling answered. (Heh, neither did the authoress! Keeping secrets Koenma? Tsk Tsk!)

Thus the afternoon went by with Kurama providing entertainment for all. They played games with the hyper little kit and Kuwabara gave him an apple (that magically crossed through time and space to be in his hand at that particular point in the story ::n.n::) when the kitsune's stomach made those "I'm hungry, feed me!" noises.

By evening the kit was tired. But before he could do anything about finding a place to sleep, Shizuru had to blind him with the flash of a camera she also just happened to bring along. The fox was stunned and blinked at the little dots in his vision. Shizuru clicked another picture, but when the flash subsided Kurama was no longer sitting on the floor. The kit had run to Hiei who had retired to the windowsill (Does Koenma's office have a window? –construction worker come in and install window- He does now! :;n.n::)

Hiei had been looking out the window and basically ignoring the others when a silver thing jumped into his lap and started frantically rubbing his eyes. He looked with an "I'm not amused expression" and took in the group. Shizuru had one of those evil flashing THINGS. He gave her a glare that specifically said, "If you take one more picture I will kill you, baka onna." Shizuru wisely backed off and was happy with what she had. But, she was tempted to snap another picture anyway, just to see the hiyoukai annoyed.

Hiei turned back to the kit in his lap and said gruffly, "Up."

The kit, however, did not comply. He turned his head up to face those glowing red eyes and…yawned widely. Hiei's eyebrow ticked in frustration when the kit settled himself down and decided to go to sleep. The kit wrapped his arms around the hiyoukai and didn't budge afterwards.

Of course, these actions merited laughs from the others. What a kawaii site!! Kawaii chibi Youko Kurama and Hiei! Yusuke and Kuwabara were in tears. Hiei glared at them all, which made half of them laugh harder, and the rest hide their giggles behind their hands.

And, to make matters worse in torturing the fire demon, Kurama had settled himself so that Hiei could not get up or move from that spot unless he literally rolled off the windowsill. This action would result in both of them falling to the floor in an undignified mess, which Hiei's pride would NOT stand for. Hiei decided to give his, "Get him off me now" glare, but Yusuke, being good ole lovable Yusuke, had to say,

"Aww Hiei. You two look so comfy there! I'd suuure hate to disturb him, you two look so cute like that!"

"Yeah!" Kuwabara added in loudly, "Who knew you'd make a such a good pillow!"

And the thing that put the icing on the whole cake labeled "Hiei torture" Shizuru snapped a couple of pictures of the adorable passed out chibi fox and the overly annoyed fire demon.

Glare, glare, glare. _**GLARE. **Shimatta! WHY can't looks kill?!?!_

With a non-perceptible sigh of defeat, Hiei resigned to playing 'bed' for one pooped out kitsune. He looked down at the fox and found he couldn't even glare at the unconscious kit. And so, everyone settled down to spend the night in Reikai and watch over their foxy friend.(_You know, if things weren't cute, they'd be killed. Ex: my beagle puppy is quite literally, a pain in the bum, but she never gets in trouble because she has the power of cuteness! I think this would be a similar case, only Kurama's just being…too…cute…(It's…like…hypnotic or something!))_

A/N: All righty. I was gonna make it longer. But this was the end of the humor/kawaiiness part, and it seems like a good place to stop. C'mon! It's 10 pages already, -goes on knees- please be satsfied!

Well, how did you like my attempt at some humour? Have a laugh or crack a smile? I hope you did, I tried my very hardest! Well…I was just writing this as part of the dream that I don't have to fill in, but I'm sure my dream tried it's very hardest! (Though it's funnier in my head –sigh-)

_Translations: not many this time._

_Chibi: small child, toddler_

_Youko Kurama ni aru Reikai Tantei: Youko Kurama, meet the Reikai Tantei. Um…I'm not sure what the Japanese do about commas in such, but I haven't seen any, so I left it out. Also, there is no 'the' it's implied through the speech. (Hmm…there's no word for 'are' either)_

_Reikai Tantei: Spirit Detectives. Slang word peeps, I'm pretty sure this is just slang peeps. (And why in the warnings for Shoujo-ai they have 'yuri'? Yuri means 'lily' …I dunno. Not into the stuff, so I guess I'm out of the knowledge loop. -.-) _

Wakai: young (Wakai kitsune –The young kitsune (remember, no equivalent for 'the') 

_Reikai: Spirit World_

Kistune: fox 

_Baka: fool, idiot_

_Onna: woman, female, chick_

_Shimatta: damn (remember, don't confuse it with 'kuso' which means two, definitely more naughty swearwords.) _

_Kawaii: cute, sweet_

_Kowai: scary (don't mix up Kawaii and Kowai folks! It's like mixing up night and day!)_

**All righty then. I think that covers it. There was a bunch of stuff I wanted to say…but it's not 5:44 a.m. and I can barely remember my name. (-music- What's my name again? What's my name again? …wait. That song by Blink 182, is What's my AGE again? O.O x.X Wah…sleepy!) Besides, I find I babble wayyyyy too much in these things….-.0 Umm…yeah…I know there are prolly mistakes, please forgive me for them, but I wanted to get this chapter out, and it's early in the morning, and I have yet to sleep.**

On another note: This will be the last chapter posted before I go back to school. The next update WILL take a while. HOWEVER, if I get lots of FEEDBACK and REVIEWS, I will be sure to update on a semi-regular basis. ::n.n::

Okay! Enough babbling nonsense!! PLEASE REVIEW!! I love hearing what you have to say about the work! I enjoy criticism, and comments, and questions! By leaving these in a review, I know that you are enjoying the story and your comments and such help me improve the story!

_**ONCE AGAIN! PLEASE REVIEW! ONEGAI! (please) **Hmm…well, that's it I guess. Ohayo gozaimazu? (remember from last chapter about the flat lines!! ::n.n:: (Good morning?)) Pssh…I'm going to bed! Oyasumi nasai!! (Good night) ::n.n::!!_


	7. Surjo kikan

January 26th, 2005

A/n: Hello all! I'm not quite sure if I can save this since I'm not on my own computer, but her, we'll make do. I've been trying to figure out how exactly to start this chapter but ir really just didn't want to work with me, as usual. I'm about to drop on my face I'm so sleepy, but the good news is that I still know what my name is, much thanks to the sticky note stapled to my forehead that is my constant reminder. Note to you all, I recommend using tape instead of staples when applying sticky notes to your forehead! ::n.n::

**R**_e_V**i**_E_w**R**_e_S**p**_O_n**S**_e_S:

**Blue Moon Fox: Heya!! Someone new! Thankies for reviewing!! Heehee, I'm glad you think chibi Youko Kurama is 'cute as hell' ::n.n:: He's just so kawaii!!, or at least I try to make him that way. o.O I'm trying to update kinda regularly for all you guys because you're all awesome and spoil me with reviews!! Can't believe I hit 25!! My goal is 50…::u.u:: never satisfied. –sigh- but you will have to see with you're little suggestion. I want to at least be different if not original, so we'll have to see as the story progresses, cuz I don't really know! ::n.n::**

_Peeka-chan: Horray!! You're back! –glomp!- Grr, yeah, those stupid review thingies really annoy me because they won't let you review half the time. Curses!! ::n.n:: But…wait…don't die!! If you die then how will you be able to read the story (cough –and review- cough) ::n.n:: I hopes you continue to visit me and that you enjoy this chapter! Thankies muchlies!!_

Animeprincess1452: Whoohoo!! You have come back yet again!! I reviewed your latest chappie! (which by the point I get this out will probably be serveral new chappies later, but I'd have prolly reviewed them, which makes the last sentence work anyway!! ::n.n:) Yay!! I like being interesting!! Hopefilly I can convince you all to stay with me until I finish the story (-laughs- finish? When will THAT be?!) Well, here's another chapter for you, I hope it was fast enough, I'm trying at least!

Tsuki Fox: -glomp!!- Yay!! You people keep coming back! I loves you!! ::n.n:: And you're rightm I absolutely LOVE reviews, and no, you weren't boring me, I enjoyed hearing what you thought about the chapter! You think Hiei was in character? Yay!! I always try to keep them in character as much as I can…even when I tried the humour bit last chapter I don't think anyone was really OOC…Oh! Writing a story? What's it about? Tell me when you get it posted and I'll try to find it!! Okay, check. I will try my hardest not to pull on the invisible line…let me make a sticky note. –makes sticky note and staples it along with the one that has the authoress' name (see A/N)- K, I hope you enjou the chapter and I also hope you come visit me again!!

_Titangirl161: (X3!) –GLOMP!!- You're back!! Yay!! And I did check out your story, and I left you a review too!! My name? Looks at sticky note…wait, you know my name, why do you have to make me use the nonexistent brain cells to remember it?! –brain sparking- To chapter four: yes, yes, poor everybody, though I really haven't done anything to everybody…should I remedy this? (haha!! Made me think of Squee!) And no, this story isn't coming off, but updates…well…I dunno how quick they will be. I have not made any promises so you can't yell at me!! –sticks tongue out- ::n.n:: To chapter five: yes, as you know Hiei and Kurama are best friends, I doubt Hiei would just let an unconscious chibi Kurama fall out of the sky and crack his head open. That would be mean, plus, that would give me more work to do in which I'd have to punish him until he obeyed, by using the keyboard of doom and sending him to the 'Happy Room' –and if you were thinking of a mere padded cell, you would be incorrect my dear, the 'Happy Room' is far worse. ::n.n:: But, I have had no reason to send him there, I think he realized that the sooner I get this done, the sooner he can leave. That, and it's not like I'm making him horribly OOC where he dances around in a pink tutu (snicker) Will Kurama go back to normal? Who knows? To chapter six: Whoohoo!! I amuse!! I am funny! I am getting carried away!! ::n.n:: C'mon! Who couldn't love chibi Youko Kurama! The kawaiiness! There's no escaping it! Well no, Kuwabara is not twice Hiei's height, I was kinda exaggerating cuz kids do that sometimes…and from his vantage point, Kuwabara could look twice Hieie's height…Yeah, Hiei had to play 'bed' for out little kitsune, though I didn't have hom do as much in that chapter as I did in my dream. I'm glad there was no bashing either, though, it wouldn't have been bashing, cuz it was just the less serious side of one of the characters, but I didn't want my head taken off…so yeah. OH! I'm glad you reviewed 'Anonymous Stranger' –you usually like my poetry so…-yes, that was who I originally thought of after I randomly came up with the first two lines (what classifies a sonnet? Is that a sonnet? O.o) AND YOU DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUIZ QUESTION!! You HAVE to know it!! Only one person said anything about it, and that was to inform me that they had no clue. But you! I know you know! ::n.n:: Anyway, continue to check out the story, cuz I forgot what I told you about it, but I can guarantee there will be more than I told you/plus stuff that you don't know!! Review again onegai!!_

**_A/N: OKAY!! WAY TOO MUCH TALKING!! ::n.n:: ANOTHER note to self…learn to shuttup faster when trying chappies for the story…o.O Well now, PLEASE CONTINTUE TO PESTER ME IF YOU WANT UPDATES!! YOUR REVIEWS MOTIVATE ME TO MOVE FASTER!! –hey! Take this chapter as an example._**

_Chapter Seven: Surjo kikan (roughly: Surjo returns)_

It was bright and early when a certain kit arose from his little dreamland. The 'place' (::n.n::) he had used to sleep had been warm and comfy, although, said fire demon was not so happy about it. The kit jumped off Hiei's lap, and began to scamper away to do kitsune things when he was firmly yanked back by the scruff of the neck.

Hiei had awakened as soon as the kit removed himself from Hiei's person, -you know, battle skills and awareness of surroundings, and those type of things… He stopped the kit from escaping…and doing kitsune things. Everyone knows about a fox's sense of curiosity (I got it too!! ::n.n::) and that they might not find that kit again if he just wandered around the Reikai palace. Everyone else was still under the influence of the Sandman and could not entertain said curious kit, so the possibility that said kit would wander around was extremely high.

Little did Hiei know, that by stopping Kurama from fulfilling his foxy curiosity through exploring, he would have to not only act as baby-sitter but also play '20 questions' –or, more like '20 hundred questions' Little foxes turn out to have good memories. So all morning Hiei was forced into the practice of speaking and answering everything from 'how did Hiei know the kit?' to 'what's the Reikai?' and anything that wasn't covered between the two subjects.

By the time another person showed signs of life, Koenma, who at some point or another had left to his own room, came barging in all flustered and yelling –resulting in waking everyone up. This had the reactions of a severely annoyed Yusuke and Kuwabara, who in turn, annoyed everyone else by complaining. Goody. It seems the boys had a mission. Perfect. Just. Absolutely. Positively. Perfect.

Koenma informed the Tantei that a group of four demons were running a-muck in the Ningenkai. They had to stop the demons before any people sited them and got hurt. The usual short, and not very informational, briefing did consist of some pictures and a quick run-down in the demons. After the meeting the boys set out, the girls went home, and Koenma watched from his office; leaving the three Tantei to not only deal with four demons but also baby-sit one chibi Youko Kurama.

The group made it to the place where said four demons were demolishing the forest they were in. Kurama frowned deeply at this and said sadly, "They're hurting the forest. I can feel the plants crying. Why do they hurt the forest?"

Three heads turned to the kit with indefinable expressions. Finally, Yusuke regained his regular cocky attitude and said, "Well! Let's go stop the jerks! I've been feeling restless after only having Kuwabara to beat around! We all know he's no competition!"

Of course Kuwabara had to stand up for himself, "What?! Urameshi!! Don't make me pound you into the floor!!"

"Ha! I doubt you can even take down one of the demons!! We always have to save your butt!"

"That's it Urameshi!! I'll take 'em down faster than you!" So the two humans raced off to see who could vanquish the demons first. Hiei sped after them immediately (fighting? Without him? Gotta be outta your mind! ::n.n::) and Kurama running after him. Before Hiei joined the fray, he took the extra second to dump Kurama safely in the boughs of a tree and command him to stay there.

And as usual, Koenma's information had to be wrong. They were not low-level demons like the report said, but stronger and smarter than they were given credit for. Since it was four to three, they did have a bit of a disadvantage, but it was nothing our favourite Tantei couldn't handle. They seemed to enjoy the idea having a semi-decent fight.

Kurama watched from his spot in the tree and tried not to cry out. He hated fighting, but there was nothing he could do to make it stop. He also hated having to watch because he didn't want to see anyone hurt, crying out would only attract attention to himself, and he had learned long ago that that was a bad thing. He watched as the four demons were whittled down to three. Then Kuwabara slipped and Yusuke had to bail him out of incoming trouble. However, now that Yusuke was distracted with one demon he did not notice the other one sneaking up behind him. Kurama noted that Hiei was busy with his own adversary and wouldn't make it in time. Kurama hesitated before deciding he had to do something. He pulled out a rose from his hair and jumped down while transforming his rose into a whip.

Yusuke k.o.ed his opponent with a right hook to the jaw and turned in time to see a thorn-less rose whip whiz by less than an inch from his face to wrap around the demon sneaking up behind him and then giving a sharp tug so the tied up demon fell on it's rear end. He blinked.

Hiei finished toying with his prey and ended the fight. He joined the others as Kuwabara was removing himself from the ground and Yusuke was ranting about stupid spineless morons who were cowardly to sneak up and attack someone from behind. Kurama just held on to his whip so the demon wouldn't escape and blinked innocently.

Kuwabara then realized that Kurama had helped and was still holding the tied up demon, who was still struggling in vain to be free. "Hey!! I thought you were to little to fight! Why didn't you tell us you could fight?!"

Kurama blinked and replied, "I don't like fighting. It's not right to hurt people."

(Image Hiei doing an anime fall right here ::n.n::) Okay, Kurama was a kitsune, he lived in the Makai, demon plus Makai equals violence and fighting. The only appirition that did not like to fight was his sweet and innocent sister Yukina (not that she knows…)

The others just kinda ignored the comment, their chibifoed friend was too cute and innocent for his own good, and they were not quite sure how to handle it. They would be happy to have the Kurama they knew back.

After Kurama's little comments, Yusuke, of course, had to remind Kuwabara that he had gotten humiliated, which ensued in a battle between the two with a lot of yelling. Kurama surveyed all the beings and took in their injuries. Of course he was going to help!! People were hurt!!

Before Kurama could get to the fried demon Hiei had gone up against (which is a very good thing his attention was diverted. Poor demon didn't have a chance for survival…::u.u::) there was a rustling in the trees. Hiei picked up the sound and was on guard again. He, once again, grabbed the kit before he could go and get in trouble with his kitsune curiosity. He kept one hand on Kurama as it was necessary for the kit to stay put.

The same bat-child that had started the entire mess emerged, lounging in one of the tree tops. The sapphire eyes took in the surroundings and said, "Well, well. It seems you had some fun."

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Kurama perked up and called out, "Surjo!! You're okay!!" He tried to go to his friend, but Hiei's firm grip kept him steadily in place.

"Yes Kurama, I'm fine. I came to check up on you." The kit tilted his head in confusion, Surjo semmed a bit…off…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold it! Bat-boy's back?!" Yusuke yelled once he untangled himseld from his carrot-topped friend.

Surjo smirked. "Are you ready to go home Kurama?"

"Hai!!" came the enthusiastic answer from the happy little kit. But said kit still could not move due to Hiei's still restrictin hand. He looked up at Hiei with pleading eyes, but Hiei's grip remained firm. The kit's pleading turned to confusion, asking the silent question of 'why not?' Hiei's stare gave away nothing.

"Come now Hiei," Surjo taunted, "I know you're friends and all, but you heard him. Kurama wants to go home. Perhaps I'll let you visit sometime?" Hiei growled.

"You can't take Kurama! He has a home here! He has a mother to take care of! You need to turn him back!"

"What's a mother?" Kurama asked. (Hmm…I image Hiei, Kuwa, and Yusuke sweat-dropping right about now…::n.n::)

"She's your parent Kurama! You're ningen parent!!"

"What's a ningen?" (heehee, anime fall anyone?)

"Gah!! Minamino Shiori? She's probably worried sick by now because you're such a momma's boy and a goody-two-shoes!" Yusuke is lost in his own ranting little world by this point…::n.n:: (and that was not meant to cause offense. I think it's sweet how he looks after his 'kaasan. ::n.n::)

At the name Kurama saw a smile from someone he didn't know. But it was a flash and gone in an instant.

Surjo had a mask of indifference on his face much like Hiei is known to wear. However, during Yusuke's ranting, one of his started to twitch and his face pulled back in a wince. It was quickly concealed and only noticeable to Kurama who was used to Surjo's actions, and this wasn't something he had come to know.

"I don't like waiting," Surjo said, "if you won't let Kurama go, I'll have to make you."

"Surjo…?" Kurama asked, looking into the bat's blue eyes. The two shared a moment and it seemed that the piercing gaze softened a fraction when their gazes met. Kurama smiled, Surjo wouldn't hurt the others, they were going to play a game. Then they would be able to go back to the den, and tomorrow they would play some more.

Surjo smirked when their eyes broke contact. It seemed that the bat radiated with power which pulsed for a second and died away. Nothing seemed to have changed.

"That's is?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, look around you." Came the answer.

Dozens of demons came out from the trees surrounding them. They circled the group and launched into a fight. Hiei and the others tried to stop their friend, but the fox was not helping by squiggling and squirming. Eventually the kit was free when the multitudes of demons were too much for the Tantei to fight ine handed and the fox ran over to Surjo who was now waiting at the base of the tree. He ran up to Surjo and hugged him. They looked into each other's eyes.

Surjo saw the worry, and leaned down to whisper into Kurama's fuzzy fox ears, "Don't worry, they're just illusions. They'll disappear once we leave. Ready to go?" The kit nodded in response.

Surjo scooped the kit up into his arms, spread his wings, and took flight. This time the two left without any difficulties. They were far away before the illusionary demons disappeared and the three Tantei realized they were one chibi kitsune short.

"Shimatta!" Yusuke cursed, "That jerk has Kurama now!"

"Thay have to be pretty far by now! How are we going to find him?!" Kuwabara screeched.

A very aggravated _"HN!"_ came from Hiei, who tore off the bandana that warded the Jagan eye. The violet eye opened and glowed eerily. Hiei then proceeded to locate Kurama's ki signature and see where the bat had taken their friend. They were going on a wild kitsune chase, joy.

A/N: Well, there you have it everyone. I actually had something different in mind, but this is what my fingers typed, so this is what you are getting. Hopefully I'll be able to send it to myself so I can post it. I'll be peeved if I can't cuz it's 11 pages!! I think I'll forgo the translations, as I'm sure you know them already. I believe all of them were stated in previous chapters, so if you need them, you can find then there.

_I cut out most of the rest of my rant from yesterday as it was pointless to post it now. I hope you appreciate the fact that I had to type this, send this to myself, try to post it only to find out I can't, and then retype the whole thing again!! BE HAPPY AND REVIEW FOR MY HARD EFFORTS!! (PLUS I SHOULD HAVE BEEN STUDYING…o.O)_

All righty then!! What'd you think of the chapter? PLEASE REVIEW!! Depending on your responses I'll see when the next chapter gets out! Oyasumi nasai!! ::n.n::


	8. Okaeri nasai Kurama!

January 31st, 2005

A/N: Hello, hello! How are we all today? I'm soooooooo tired! I had classes, and then I went to work out at the gym (x.X) and then I tried to do some work in the library. I actually passed out for about ten minutes there! (:u.u:) So now, here I am at 10:15p.m. and babbling up a storm. -.- Since I have to type the chapters in the library and not at my own computer where I'll be interrupted, this will have to be re-typed so you won't get the chapter for at least another day? o.O But yes, enough about irrelevant things, let's go thanks the wonderful reviewers!

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**Tsuki Fox: Welcome back! Yes, I did check out your story and I lefted a review, so now you have at least two :n.n: Yes, reviews are good, they make the world go round. Along with anime, and chocolate, and shiny thingies, and…o.O Heehee, got a little carried away. Don't worry about the quiz question, it was in this short poem thing I wrote, and I realized it had a reference to another anime in it after I wrote it. I was just yelling at my friend cuz she OWNS the series, so she has to know. If you wanna know, tell me and I'll tell you about it a review to your second chapter :n.n: Please do stop by again!**

_Animeprincess1452: Heehee, I'm glad I was able to amuse you. (:n.n:) Wow! You've reviewed 9 of my works. Along with my buddy xKokurox, I give you a plaque that says 'great reviewer award' and a big hunk of chocolate! Well, if you wanna know what happens this time, you'll have to read and see (-.-) though, the site still won't allow me to read chappie 24 of yours, fear not! I shall do my very bestest to review for you (:n.n:) And yes, here is your update, tell me how you like the chapter!_

Peeka-chan: Awww! Evil rabid fuzzy kittens-pet ears :n.n: Yes, it is a reunion! My five die-hards have returned again! You guys don't know how much it means to me when you guys review :n.n: …o.O -hands you a scissor- um…you can try cutting yourself out with that (:D) Heehee, here's an update for you, I hope you enjoy it!

**xKokurox:n.n: Heehee, I dunno how why you didn't read it before…I wasn't hiding it from you or anything…-shifty eyes (:n.n:) Yay (-Glomp-) You're back! I missed you:P In reply to 'Anonymous Stranger': well, actually I did kinda have him in mind…though now that I think of it, Kuro can fit in it too, I was actually thinking about whether or not Hiei could fit in it, but your right, some yes some no. I'm glad you like it! In response to 'The Collector': (-sweatdrop-) Heehee, it was kinda supposed to be confusing at first. I actually am rather pleased with those two works for some reason…(:n.n:) Grr…stupid school…if it wasn't for school we could be on ff. net all day! …and get a really high electric bill…o.O Again, I'm glad you liked it. Wow…you've reviewed 9 of my works-gives you a plaque that says 'Great reviewer award' and a big hunk of chocolate…mmm…chocolate. (:n.n:) I reviewed your story (I think it was two actually…x.X) and I hope you update it soon! Please stop by again!**

_Titangirl161: Hey you! Yes, yes, we all know that Koenma is not very competent in his job, but the important thing is that he tries…at least…I think he does! o.O They fall down a lot? Really? Interesting…I'll just have to make them stand on their feet all day then, use super glue or something (receives many glares x.X) Yups! It's so cute the way Kurama takes care of his mother…I'd hate to cross that line though…I've heard redheads get scary when they're mad…plus he's got demon powers…O.O It didn't look like you answered my question, or was it one of those things of answering it because you didn't answer it (?.?) Anyway, I was saying…you HAVE to know where it's from because you OWN the series it comes from! It's the name of one of the episodes! There's this whole interesting speech thing that one of the characters gives before he dies on it (-.-) And yes…I did enjoy your story…I tried to see the second chapter but the site decided to hate me and won't let me see new stuff until a couple days after being posted…GRR! …-looks back at last chapter- …I didn't think it was a cliffy…if you want a cliffy, I could give you a cliffy…-evil smirk- (:n.n:) Yay! I continue to be amusing! I hope you like this next chapter and please review for me again! I love reviews! (who doesn't?) :D Catch you later!_

_**A/N: Hm…less babbling then the last couple of times…but it's still long though…but yes…keep the reviews up! Look how much it has motivated me to write! You got two chapters in the week that I have left for school! Anyways…on to the chapter!**_

(-) -mean time lapses.

_Italics_ …Surjo's thoughts (for this chapter at least :n.n:)

Underline …Haha, wouldn't you like to know:D

_Chapter Eight: Okaeri nasai Kurama! (Welcome home Kurama!)_

Surjo flew away from the battle site with Kurama in his arms. Kurama was holding on to Surjo while he peeked over the bat's arms to see what was around them and what lay below. The kit was curious and amazed at the experience of flying. What fun it was to see everything from another point of view and have the wind blow through his hair! It was wonderful!

"Surjo?" asked the kit.

"Nanda?"

"How come we haven't gone flying before?"

"Do you like flying Kurama?"

"Hai! It's so much fun! I wish I could do it?…" he pouted.

Surjo chuckled at this, "You don?t have to be able to fly, I'll carry you."

"Really? And we can fly anytime we want?" asked the excited chibi.

"Anytime," he answered with a smile.

-

When the two touched down they were in the familiar surroundings of the old forest. Kurama jumped down and began walking on an unseen path while examining the trees. Something seemed to puzzle the little fox.

"What is it Kurama?" Surjo inquired.

"The forest," the kitsune replied, "It seems…different…then when we left…"

"Of course it would be different. You were gone for a while."

"Yeah, I guess so," the kit said, accepting the explanation.

As Kurama walked, it seemed that all of the surrounding growth leaned in towards the kit, some vines reaching out to gently brush the chibi fox as he continued past; the plant life he passed seemed to grow brighter and become livelier. A silent whisper could be felt as the plants welcomed their long time friend home.

Surjo watched the kit walk towards the den. He remained transfixed in the same spot he landed, just looking at the kit as he made his way to the old den. How long had it been that he had to wait? How long had he been searching for his friend? His little brother? The feeling that he got from completing his goal after hundreds of years was overwhelming.

A short distance away Kurama mumbled, "The forest is happy we are home. It feels like an eternity doesn't it?" Little did the kit know just how much of an eternity it really was. When Kurama sensed that Surjo was not following he turned around and was surprised to see Surjo standing there with tears in his eyes and a sad but happy expression on his face. "Surjo?" The fox asked uncertainly.

Surjo rested his gaze on that of the golden eyed kitsune and continued to just watch Kurama.

"What's wrong Surjo? Why are you sad?" The kit questioned.

This question reminded the bat-child of the first time Kurama asked that question. Ironic how they first met in this very spot. The kit always tried to help everyone, but it was Surjo's turn to take care of the kit. He couldn't do it the first time, he'd be damned if he failed again.

"I'm not sad anymore Kurama," he said as he walked up to the chibi fox. "I'm happy that we got away from the bad people and we can stay together still."

"But we'd always stay together, because we always take care of each other right?"

"Right. We always stay together, we'll always be friends."

"And brothers." Kurama reminded, "Cuz we're family."

Surjo broke down and hugged his little brother, "Yup, we're family."

When Surjo stood back up there were no more tears in his eyes, the sad past was over, tears weren't needed anymore. Only a happy future could await the two friends, the two brothers. Instead, the bat had a playful look.

"Bet you can't beat me back to the den!" he yelled while running away.

"We'll just see about that!" replied the every playful kitsune.

The two ran towards the den as fast as they could. Surjo could see the little silver blur out of the corner of his eye. He smiled. _Kurama, it's good to have you back._

However, will he stay?

A/N: o.O Oh gosh, REALLY short chapter…but hey! You can't expect me to write nice 15 page chapters for you all the time right-.- …So tired… Anyway…it was cute little fluffies. :n.n:

_And just for you Titiangirl161, I put in a sort of cliffhanger, cuz you have no idea what the underline part is all about or who is speaking. Mwuhahahaha! How's that for an evil brain-sparking cliffy! 'Ask and you shall receive' is the phrase no? (:n.n:) Heehee, I'm evils. _

**Well, I guess that's that. Here is my short chapter to let you guys know that I am still alive. I REALLY should've been doing stuff like work or at least sleeping…but that stuff's overrated anyway:n.n: It's almost midnight, so ya'll definitely be getting this tomorrow at the earliest.**

_**Dearest reviewers! Please review and let me know what you thought of the short chapter! I promise I will try to make the next one longer, so do not fear the shortness of this chapter! Review for me onegai (:n.n:)**_

Arigatou for reading, oyasumi nasai minna-san! (:n.n:)


	9. Fight to Keep a Dream

September 12th, 2005

_A/N: Okay, I'm back for a little bit. (cheers) Um…I guess I should say I'm sorry for the long over-due update, it's at the bottom. Some really good reasons were: (a) I was and still am really sick with a bunch of different things, some of which doctors are still trying to figure out. (b) A lot of things that have happened recently and semi-recently have me very, very down to put it mildly. And (c) school has started up again and I must devote all brain processes to work…ug. _

**Enough of that. I don't really know what's up with the banning of responding to reviews, so I'm just gonna list names. If you would be so kind to review for me, please put your e-mail address as well so I may respond to you properly. Arigatou.**

**T**_h_A**n**_K_y**O**_u_ S**o** _V_e**R**_y_M**u**_C_h!

Kirei Kiane KitsuneNiBakaSareru Titangirl161 

_**Tsuki Fox –thanks for being my #1 fan! (:n.n:)**_

Chapter Nine: _Fight to keep a dream (see A/N at bottom about title)_

He groaned. Someone was shaking him, calling to him, and they wouldn't stop. He didn't want to be brought back from unconsciousness so soon. He didn't usually get anything but nightmares, however, for the first time in a great while he had had a dream. A wonderful dream of a time so very long ago where he was happy. A wave of loneliness and sadness crept up to him then. Oh how he wished to stay, fought to stay, in the lovely bittersweet dream.

Faintly he heard the sweet voice in his dream, desperately wishing the one who owned that voice was still real. 'Don't leave!' he thought miserably, 'Not like all the other times!' However, the persistent nudging from this most unwelcome person refused to cease. As hard as he tried to ward off consciousness, his efforts were in vain.

His awareness was rapidly slipping back to him in steady streams. He could physically fell the small hands upon his shoulders. He could sense the urgency passing from those hands through his shoulders that he should awaken, despite his wishes against it.

He groaned again and rolled away from those begging hands. How many times had this happened now? Way too many for him to count to be honest. After the disaster he dearly, _dearly_ wanted to never have happened those same hands would come to awaken him from the now blessed darkness. He hated those hands. He cursed them as he continued to silently beg them to leave him in this abyss of darkness. But in the end, he always lost the battle.

Light had finally managed to pierce beyond the safety of his eyelids and he squeezed them together as tightly as he was able in an attempt of futility to ward it away. His head thrashed slowly from side to side in a combination of despair and hopelessness that he was, yet again, being unwillingly brought back to reality.

Yet somewhere between his powerful emotions he distinctly realized that the light he was trying to escape from felt much warmer then usual. The air he breathed in was no longer heavy and suffocating but now crisp and fresh. And those little hands that he had cursed not so long ago were indeed familiar, but they were from someone else.

These changes in scenario not only made him wish to remain in darkness even more, but it scared him to no end. This was not what happened so many times before, he feared the unknown. Why was this so much different? Laying on his side now he buried his face in his hands.

A nudging thought in his mind suggested that these changes might not be so bad. He was tempted, yet still fearful to open his eyes. The deciding factor was the voice who his sleep befuddled head had not assigned an identity. The sweet voice of the one from his dream was still calling to him, and getting louder and clearer as he awakened more fully. With great effort he prepared himself and pried apart his eyelids.

The sight before him made him freeze in place and stare. The events of what happened abruptly returned to him, leaving him stunned. Surely the before was the nightmare and this was the dream? Would someone soon come to awaken him from this wonderful picture?

"Surjo?" Kurama questioned tentatively. It was slightly unnerving to be stared at as he was.

Surjo blinked once, then broke out into a big smile which turned into a bout of joyous laughter. He sat up fully, still laughing and enveloped the bewildered fox kit in a hug and brought them both back down on the bed.

'Maybe, maybe dreams really do come true.'

But what was unbeknownst to Surjo was: even if dreams did come true, how long do they last? Only a dark being close by knew the answer, and he refused to tell.

---

_Meanwhile, in a place elsewhere from the scene above:_

"Dammit!" Yusuke yelled, "What the hell is taking so freaking long!"

"Yeah Shrimp! What gives? They can't have gotten too far away!"

Hiei glared, as if the two bakas were the only ones frustrated after a day of looking for their vulnerable friend with no results. "It's almost frightening that your incompetence shows no bounds," he said in a dull monotone.

"That's it! I am the great Kazuma Kuwabara and I'm gonna pound you into the ground!"

"Perhaps the greatest idiot the three worlds has ever known, or were you saying you're the greastest loser the three worlds has ever known?"

"Oh yeah Shorty! Why don't you say that to my face!"

"Who would want to ever get that close to something so hideous?"

"You-!" and Kuwabara continued sputtering.

Uncharacteristically Yusuke sighed. Normally Kurama would step in-between the two, or even between Kuwabara and himself. Kurama always looked out for them and always made sure things never got out of hand. This scene before him was missing something. It was wrong, so very wrong.

"This isn't right," he said softly, "let's just go find Kurama."

The two stopped in their banter and noticed their leader's tone. They quickly composed themselves and followed suit, there were more pressing matters at hand then a mere squabble.

"The energy trail stops at the edge of the upcoming forest. Either the bat is cloaking both their auras, or using some form of ward. They are undetectable now," Hiei informed.

"Well _damn._ Isn't that convenient," Yusuke grumbled.

"Then how are we supposed to find him?" Kuwabara asked.

"Can't you find fox-boy with that sixth sense thing of yours?"

"I don't feel anything," he said.

"Useless oaf."

"Hey-!"

Hiei, however, cut him off and continued, "All we can do is search the forest for clues."

(I have the urge for Yusuke to say 'Let's split up gang!' like Freddy does on Scooby-Doo. But I'll refrain.)

"So, anything in particular we're looking for?" Yusuke inquired.

"Just keep your eyes open Detective," was the response.

The three then silently continued onward in search for their missing comrade. The only thing on their minds now ere: they were getting close. And soon they'd have Kurama back.

_**A/N: Not incredibly long I'm afraid but the best I can do at the moment. Sorry this took waaaaaay too long to get out to you guys.**_

_**Ug -.- I do not understand why paragraphing does not work here, how it aggravates me so. (:u.u:) **_

_-As a little side note, I didn't realize until afterwards that the title reminded and sounded like a YYH song called Wild Wind. (totally awesome by the way, you gotta hear it!) This is the chorus:_

_With my heart like this, I'm just Fighting to dream._

_I won't let anyone get in my way._

_We can decide things like fate for ourselves._

_Like the wind, we're just Shooting to dream._

_Cutting off the pain of the past,_

_we now decide the future with our own hands._

_Getta chance!_

_For anyone who is interested: Go to A n im e l y r ic s . c o m and you can look up oodles of lyrics on YYH and others. This is there._

_Also for anyone interested: _w w w . r o s e w h ip . n e t / i n d e x 2 . h t m_ is this totally awesome site that you can listen to YYH music and whoever owns that site I loves so much! (heart!)_

_((Just remove spaces and your re'd to go._

**This is where I tell you to please review because I've finally come back from the dead and because I gave you awesome sites to check out….and 'cause you happen to like the story too. Or hate it, don't matter. I need input, so review onegai!**

_Until next time friends. I have already started thinking about the next chapter, but only thinking. (:n.n:)_


	10. Time Goes On

7/26/07

The Sad Story Of a Lonely Little Boy

_A/N: OMG!! Update, Update, Update! After almost two years [ I am so ashamed of myself '( , I have finally updated for the second digit chapter! For whoever is still here and reading, I love you sooooo much!_

**The author has had a lot going on (who hasn't?). I have some good excuses and some not good excuses for the absence of updates such as bad illnesses, family problems, school, etc. I'm sure no one is really interested in these, but just in case, that is why I have been absent from story making [but not story reading. I still read your fictions!**

_(Anonymous review): I'm glad you found it cute, but I have not let it die. It just has been almost backwards in coming. Thank you for you review, it helped me pick it up again. ) Please encourage me more, and I may get to the end faster!_

_Tsuki Fox: Yay! I love huggles! Thank you for being my #1 fan! I am not scrapping this, but I will not lie, updates are extremely slow (but hopefully not almost two years again!)_

_Titangirl161: Yes, Kuwabara and Hiei fights are loads of fun. D_

_Betabonanza: Thank you for loving the story and reviewing! This update is for you!_

_BlackRoseVixen05: Way past time for this update! Gomen nasai! Thank you for being so understanding in my delays, and I sincerely hope you have not lost interest. For you!_

_**Sorry for such a long absence! Please enjoy the next chapter!**_

Chapter Ten: Time Goes On 

Surjo sprung awake panting and sweating from his latest nightmare. Even after rescuing his brother from his past weeks ago Surjo still had nightmares and horrible visions of what the kit had and could have endured. These visions brought chills up his spine as his own painful memories flashed before him.

He made Kurama forget his horrible past, but he could do nothing about his own. Now he also knew the trauma the kit went through as well as how much pain his still kind soul had suffered. Surjo did not want to forget what he recently learned about Kurama, even if it hurt. The memories was something that was once part of the fox and he did not feel right erasing those memories completely.

Surjo did have some trouble keeping his spells in place. Because even if the memories were gone, the strongest ones left an impression that something should be there. Kurama had experienced a few instances where he felt these impressions and almost but not quite remembered something. It was usually about his ningen mother. Surjo figured there weren't any about the Reikai Tantei because the kit had met them since Surjo's mind tampering.

He was more often experiencing that ever annoying emotion of guilt. Kurama had a mother now and Surjo saw the good effects from that, but before he could think his actions were wrong, a strong feeling deep inside argued that the only thing he had to feel guilty for was not getting Kurama back sooner. The kit was his little brother, and no one else was supposed to have been involved.

Surjo also worried. He couldn't remember much about what happened after he blacked out the day Kurama was taken, but he knew something was amiss. Surjo noticed he hadn't aged since that day, but the strong feeling told him he would not have to worry about explaining that to Kurama for years to come. The strong feeling helped ease a lot of Surjo's fears and doubts. He relied on the strong feeling and it didn't let him down. He was reveling in the return of his comrade and brother.

Surjo still had a lot of work cut out for him though. The forest in which they lived deep inside was not as obscure as it once was. Close to the edge of the forest was an ever growing city. The occupants there mainly stayed away because of the bad luck that was associated to the forest. That bad luck happened to be Surjo. These ventures into his and Kurama's forest had to be kept to a minimum for if someone progressed to far, they might see the kit and take him away for treasure and who knew what else. He would _not_ let that happen again. From deep inside his blood boiled at the thought.

Surjo disposed of such intruders and instilled a fear in the city residents that most stayed away now. He knew Kurama would be saddened and hurt if he ever found out about Surjo's precautions, but Surjo found them quite necessary. His power was strong and still growing, but it had it's limits and ranges. Controlling an entire village populous on top of everything else would stretch him too him thin and effect his health.

Surjo's gut instinct also told him that the Reikai Tantei would be closing in soon. Traveling this way, it would be hard to miss the rumors and they would no doubt check out such disturbances in search for the kit. Surjo felt deeply sorry for his little brother. They were good people at heart, but they were trying to take Kurama away. Surjo resolved himself to the fact that he would have to dispose of the Tantei too. It was all in Kurama's best interest. Until time passed and the kit got more memories, his old ones were still in danger of being restored. And Surjo already knew that was the Tantei's goal. And he'd be damned if he let that happen; he thought with a sadistic smirk creeping onto his face.

"Surjo?"

The soft voice broke through his increasingly dark thoughts. The evil smirk slipped off his face and he almost felt ashamed of himself.

"What's up?"

"Are you okay?" the innocent voice asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he questioned back with upraised eyebrow.

"…Well, you've been waking up a lot during the night. Are you having more nightmares?"

Innocent, yet horribly observant. He thought he hadn't woken the kit, but said kit still knew. At least Kurama thought he was having nightmares about his family instead of ones of guilt –and he could work with that.

"I'll be okay," he said, "Why are you up? Did I wake you?"

" I woke up because I felt you brooding again," the kit replied.

Ah, that explained it. Kurama always managed to find out when he was in a deep thinking mood. He would feel inclined to help his bat friend out of his psychological funk.

"Brooding?" he asked amused, "I don't brood."

The kit smiled. "Do to!"

And the banter and guaranteed tickle fight commenced.

_**(In another time and place) **_

"…This SUCKS!" Yusuke screamed for all to hear. "Where the hell is fox-boy?! It's been friggin' WEEKS!"

That pretty much accurately summed up the whole of the Tantei's thoughts. They had been traveling for weeks now and not one glimpse of a silver kit. The group was irritable, cranky, and were more than ready to kick the crap out of somebody, anybody.

"And what makes things sooo much fun is the fact that we keep getting attacked by effin' everything! Especially plants! Why are they bothering us now?!" was more of venting Yusuke and his frustrations.

"Cuz Kurama's not here Urameshi! Now shut up before I sock ya one!"

Kuwabara's outburst shocked Yusuke a little in the way he said it, but at this point it was not enough to stop Yusuke from starting a squabble match between the two of them. Frustrations were high and their calmest member and peace maker was no where to be found.

"Enough," came a short, commanding, and irritated tone.

"Anything Hiei?" Yusuke asked, exasperated.

"A new city. Ten miles North from here, with a rumor about an old forest."

"More forests?!" Kuwabara screeched. "How many have we checked now?"

With a sigh they proceeded onward in silence, allowing their slightly crushed hopes to blossom a little again.

**_(Back to previous place and time) _**

Kurama was now sleeping peacefully again after their activities. Surjo looked down at the tired kit and thought back to the fun of their tickle fight. This is what he was protecting, and soon it would be over. He felt the Tantei drawing nearer. He lay down and smirked again as he closed his eyes.

_Let them come._

**A/N: So there you have it! Please review for me and I will love you so much! I promise the next chapter will have more action in it. I am actually starting it too! Encourage me and I might have it out shortly[though no promises:D**

_Six pages for all of you! I hope you have enjoyed it! Please let me know whatever you think of it! Rejoice for I am back!_


	11. And So It Ends

April 24th, 2011 (I started this on Independence Day and am now finishing it on Easter, I am so full of holiday joy lol)

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm not sure if this story has been completely forgotten about over the…years I haven't updated, but I figure for any loyal readers still left or new ones taking interest in the story I have decided to give you some kind of ending.

This story originated from a dream that I had probably somewhere in the vicinity of 2004 and was only half formed at that. Keeping this in mind, it has been too long to try to dig it back up and create the parts where holes resided in the dream, but here is what I have from my remembrances and from what I wanted to include. I apologize for it not being a real end, but I hope that it brings some sort of closure compared to the gaping black hole I previously left you with.

_**Closure a.k.a. Summation of the End!**_

I believe I had left off with Surjo and chibi Youko Kurama returning to their home in the old forest somewhere in the middle of the Makai. What follows was an interlude that I had to create and never got the inspiration or material to fill the holes in my dream. There would be some wandering around of the Reikai Tantei and another interaction between them and Surjo. This altercation would have no clear winner and Surjo would escape.

The next meet-up between the two groups would be the last. In the interim (of some substantial time, probably months) there would have been some exploration into Surjo's character in which he would exhibit some odd traits and we get to see him interact with Kurama. I had intended to portray him as having a mix of Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) that had triggered as a coping mechanism for the traumas he suffered as a child and in the times where I do not show him. This mix would steadily gain control over Surjo's dominant personality and cause complications. This mix, or Second Identity as I am impromptu naming it, is the one that would be present for the final encounter with the Reikai Tantei. Second Identity is stronger and more powerful than Surjo's conscious personality.

Next would have been some epic fight scene where Second Identity practically trounces the Reikai Tantei but then we learn that Second Identity coming out of dormancy and using its specific abilities had some adverse effects on Surjo. Basically, Surjo's body could not handle Second Identity's powers and caused it to degrade and unable to further sustain Surjo's life. Once we have passed this point of no return Surjo is able to work through Second Identity and come to what would be his true self. We would have some speech on his feelings and what Kurama meant to him. Speaking of Kurama, he's …somewhere during all of this. One of those holes that never got filled in. I didn't know whether to have him present at the fight or to have the Reikai Tantei be told where to find him or to have Surjo magick him there somehow. I kind of like the idea of him being present at least at the end so he and Surjo could have some last words like hoping to be friends again in another life or something. Then Surjo passes on. Yes, it would have been a fight where nobody wins, but they got Kurama back. The problem is he is still chibi! So that would lead to:

Kurama is brought back to the Reikai where there is lots of research and stuff being done to see what can be done for his condition. He's there for some healthy amount of time but less than a month. Being of the toddler/kindergarten mentality he goes exploring and gets into some trouble. Most notable I had planned for him to get back on the human plane and have a run-in with his mother while he was in his chibi youko form. (It has always been my personal opinion that Shiori and Yukina are no where as oblivious as they are portrayed to be. It's more complicated than this, but that's all I really need to go into here.) Shiori would find him in the garden using his powers to help the flowers or something and she would look at him as if she wasn't sure if she saw it correctly or not. They both have the feeling that they should know each other, which is important since Kurama isn't supposed to know her or feel she's familiar to him at all. Yusuke would then catch up about this time while the two were talking and try to pass Kurama off as his little cousin who was too in love with his Halloween costume to take it off. (This is before I learned that Halloween is not generally a custom celebrated in Japan, but ah well it was a dream.) She would give him a lollipop and the two would leave.

Yusuke takes him to the park where the shrinking happened because everyone was gathered there since they found a way to reverse the spell. They had to go to the scene of the crime in order to perform the reversal spell which would have been something along the lines of the one to shrink him except backwards. Real original, I know. I debated having Shiori follow (motherly instinct maybe?) and stand off somewhere to watch this. She's going to know somehow. Her son just disappeared for a few months without anything to go off of, I'm sure she rose more than a few eyebrows and connected more than a few dots in that time frame. She would hang back and see the chibi transform into her son and get a kind of confirmation of something. She then sneaks back off without saying anything. (Some point was going to be expanded here, but in order to keep this a summary I will omit it to keep things short.)

Kurama is now back to normal. My dream didn't have much after this but I gave some thought about whether or not he should have any memory of when he was chibified or how it would work out if he did. My feeling is that there should be some sort of memory retention. As in something fuzzy yet definable, but not necessarily with a linear time frame. He doesn't know he was shrunk or what happens when. For example, he was little when the memory was made, but the new memories weren't there the first time he was little, so does a memory of Surjo v. Reikai Tantei place itself in a time frame from his real youko childhood? You can let me know what you think. :)

And that's about it. There would be some last minute thought from Kurama on Surjo and maybe some sort of lesson learned by one or all party members and a mentioning of the tapes and pictures that Shizuru took of the chibi and life goes on. The End.

A/N: And there you have it. I hope that this is at least satisfactory for anyone who was interested in the rest of the story. I apologize again for it never to be completed besides this. If anyone is ambitious and wants a writing exercise I encourage you to write it using the above as a guideline.

As always, please review and tell me what you think. :)

Thanks again to all who have read this!


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